
HARPEf\&BROS. 



'Sv 1,1^ . 



o( 



.b. ^^ 



r 

W A I K N A; 



OR, 



ADVENTURES 



MOSQUITO SHORE. 

_/ * 
BY SAMUEL A. B A R D,. .p 5eu-a/ 



' ' Whatever sweets salute the northern sky, 
With vernal lives, that blossom but to die ; 
These here disporting, own the kindred soil. 
Nor ask luxuriance from the planter's toil ; 
While sea-born gales their gelid wings expand, 
To winnow fragrance round the smiling land." 

Goldsmith. 



WITH SIXTY ILLUSTRATION 



NEW YORK: 
HARPER & BROTHERS. 

329 & 381 PEARL STREET. 
1855, 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by 

Harpee & Brothers, 
In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York. 




PREFACE. 



Scene. — A lonely shore. 
Enter Yankee and Mosquito Man. 

Well, my dark friend, who are you ? 

" Waikna r A man ! 

And what is your nation ? 

" Waikna !" A nation of men ! 

Pretty good for you, my dark friend ! There 
was once a great nation — a few old bricks are about 
all that remains of it now — ^whose people were 

proud to call themselves but then what do 

you know about the Eomans ? 

" Him good for drink — ^him grog ?" 

Bah! No! 

" Den no good ! bah, too \" 

Exeunt ambo. 

Now such a dialogue took place, or might have 
taken place, on the Mosquito Shore. For all 



vi PREFACE. 

4 

artistic purposes it did take place ; and, as my 
book is chiefly devoted to the Mosquito man and 
his country, it shall be called Waikna — a word 
that, in the Mosquito tongue, means simply Man, 
but which is proudly claimed as the generic 
designation of the people of the entire coast. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Jamaica, and how the Author got there — A solemn Soliloquy — An Artist 
Tempted — Painting a Portrait — ^The Schooner Prince Albert — Captain and 
Crew — ^Antonio — Superstitions — Gathering of the Storm — ^A Scene of 
Terror— The Shipwreck . 13 

CHAPTER 11. 

" EI Eoncador"— The Escape— Coral Cays— Scene with the Dead— A Night 
of Fever — Delirium — Island Scenes— Turtles — A cruel Practice — Sail ho ! 
—An Encounter — Eevolvers versus Knives — ^Departure from " El Eonca- 
dor"— Island of Providence— A Scene of Eevelry— Away for the Main- 
land 36 

CHAPTER in. 

Approach to Blueflelds— An Imperial City— New Quarters— Mr, Hodgson 
—The Mosquito King—" George "William Clarence I"— Grog versus Gospel 
—The " Big-Drunk"— A Mosquito Funeral— Singular Practices— Supersti- 
tions— An ill-fated Colony— Sad Eeflections 56 

CHAPTER ly. 

Eama Indians— Departure from Blueflelds — Canoe Yoyage — Strange Com- 
panionship—The " Haulover" — Our first Encampment— Epicurean Epi- 
sode—Night under the Tropics— Life on the Lagoons — Pearl Cay Lagoon 
— Climbing after Cocoa-Nuts — ^A Solitary Grave — Mangroves — Soldier 
Crabs — Eoseate Spoonbill — Eiver Wawashaan — Deserted Plantation — 
Sambo Settlement—" A King-Paper" — Extraordinary Eeception — Captain 
Drummer — King's House— Vanilla Plant — Philanthropy — A Dance — 
"Spoiled Head"— Fire-light Fishing— Night Scene T6 

CHAPTER V, 

Visit to the Turtle Cays— Spearing Turtle— Jumping Turtle— Eeturn to the 
Lagoon— Off again— Native Indigo— Another Bimlover —Tropical Tor- 
ments—Braving the Bar— Great Eiver— Temporal Camp— Continuous 
Eain— Doleful Dumps— Freaks of the Flood— Eain, Eain 1— Craw-Fish— 
"El Moro"— TheManzanilla— Guavas— TheEelease . . . . .105 



VIU CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER yi. 

PAGE 

On the Eiver — Strong Currents — An Indian Village — ^A Woolwa Welcome 
— Ceremonious Keception — Relations of the Indians — Their Habits — A 
Tabooed Establishment— Projected Sport — Hunting the Manitus — Habits 
of the Animal — The Attack — Great Excitement — Successful Capture— Di- 
vision of the Spoil — Instruments of the Chase — Another Epicurean Epi- 
sode ... 122 



CHAPTER YII. 

Departure — The Plantain-Tree — Bisbire — ^Nocturnal Noises — " Stirring up 
the Animals" — At Sea Again — MoUusca of the Caribbean — Walpasixa — The 
Moonlit Ocean — Prinza-pulka Eiver — Vines and Verdure — Savannahs— Vil- 
lage of Quam-watla— Inhospitable Eeception — A Eetreat— Fatal Encoun- 
ter—A Trial of Cunning— Tropical Thunder-Storm — ^A Second Encounter 
—The Fight, and the Triumph— Flight— Asylum in the Forest— The Ex- 
planation 138 

CHAPTER YHI. 

Tapir Camp— A Picturesque Eetreat— Wild Life— Palm Wine— Queen of the 
Forest — Pine Eidges— Parrots and Paroquets— A Fright — " Only a Dante" 
— ^Trapping the Tapir— Successful Eesult— NaiTow Escape — "An Army 
with Banners" — Honey-bees — Communion with Nature — Once more on 
the Lagoons 1^2 

CHAPTER IX. 

Lagoons of the Mosquito Shore — Indians and Sambos — Life among the La- 
goons — Aquatic Birds — Silk-Cotton Tree — Water Plant— Night Traveling 
— ^Tongla Lagoon — Fishing— A Disagreeable Discovery — The Chase — Pros- 
pect of a Fight— Successful Device— Diamond cut Diamond — Safely off— 
Wava Lagoon — Attack of Fever — Primitive Physic — Poisonous EeptUes — 
My Poyer Boy Bitten— The Cure 179 

CHAPTER X. 

Leave Fever Camp— Towkas Indians— Formal Eeception— Singular Prac- 
tices— Towka Marriage— Extraordinary Ceremonies— Presents Propitia- 
tory—Shouldering the Eesponsibility — Marriage Festival — How to get 
Drunk— The End of it— Wild Animals— Indian Eabbits— The Curassow— 
Chachalaca — Gibeonite — Eiver Turtle — Savory Cooking .... 200 



CHAPTER XL 

Duckwarra Lagoon— Aboriginal Eelics — Sandy Bay— Mosquito Fashions- 
Sambos of Sanday Bay— General Peter Slam— An Enghsh Captain— Bru- 
tality— Interference— A Drunken Debauch— Mishla Drink— Dances and 
Songs— A Sukia Woman— Opportune Warning — Hurried Departure- 
Power of the Snkias— Making Mishla— A Disgusting Operation . .215 



CONTENTS, IX 



CHAPTER XII. 

PAGE 

Cape Gracias — Its Inhabitants— Fine Savannah — Sambo Practices— Novel 
Mode of Hunting— Island of San Pio— Mangrove Oysters— Trial of the Su- 
kia— A Mysterious Seeress — Superstitions of the Sambos— Wulasha and 
Lewire— Character and Habits of the Mosquitos — Drunkenness — Decrease 
— Festival of the Dead— New Plans— Eiver Wanks or Segovia — Iguanas — 
Armadillos 234 



CHAPTER XHI. 

River Bocay — ^New Scenery— End of the Savannahs — Indian Village — The 
Messenger — A Night Adventure — Sanctuary of the Sukia — Hoxom-Bal, 
the Mother of the Tigers — My^eries — Euins among the Mountains— Seri- 
ous Impressions— A Tale of Wanks Eiver — ^Harry F. and the Padre of 
Pantasma 251 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Up the Cape Eiver— Imposing Scenery — Storm among the Mountains — In- 
fluence of the Moon's Eays— Eiver Tirolas — Mountain Streams — Pictu- 
resque Embarcadero — A Sweet Encampment — An Accident — Laid up — 
Send off the Poyer Boy for Help— Speedy Eecovery — Monkeys— An En- 
counter with the Pigs— To Eat or to be Eaten, a wide Difference— Eeturn 
of the Poyer— Abandonment of the Canoe—" El Moro" again— Ascent of 
the Mountains— Another Temporal— Eeflections on Fire . .272 

CHAPTER XV. 

The Crest of the Mountains— A Desert Waste— Descent— Eio Guallambre— 
Gold Washing— The Poyer Village— Habits of the Poyers- Plantations- 
Poisoning Fish — Primitive Arts — Indian Naiads— Patriarchal Government 
— Departure — Rio Amacwass — Eio Patuca—" Gateway of Hell"— Ap- 
proach to the Sea— Brus Lagooi^ 290 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Arrival at Brus— A Festival— Hospitality— Loss of the Poyer Boy— Civiliza- 
tion of the Caribs— Cocoa-Groves— Sanitary Precautions— Wild-Fig or 
Banyan-Tree— Habits of the Caribs— Industry— The Mahogany-Cutters— 
Celebration of their Eeturn— A Carib Dandy— Polygamy— Singular Prac- 
tices—A Carib Crew— Departure — The Bay of Honduras— The Bottom of 
the Sea— Island of Guanaja— Night— Sombre Soliloquies— Antonio's Secret 
—The Bousing of the Indians— Deep-laid Schemes of Revenge- The Voice 
of the Tiger in the Mountains '^12 

APPENDIX. 

A— HiSTOEiCAL Sketch 885 

B— Notes and Extracts 354 

C— Mosquito Vocabttlary 863 



ILLUSTKATIONS. 



NTTMBEE PAGE 

1. ILLUSTEATIVE TITLE 1 

2. MAP OF MOSQUITO SHOEE 12 

3. THE AETIST 13 

4. MY LANDLADY 22 

5. ANTONIO CHUL 28 

6. THE SHIPWEECK 35 

7. THE ESCAPE 36 

8. " SHELLING" TUETLES .*. 46 

9. A SAIL! A SAIL! 48 

10. "EL EONCADOE" 52 

11. APPEOACH TO BLUEFIELDS 56 

12. GOING TO THE FUNEEAL 6T 

13. A MOSQUITO BUEIAL TO 

14. AFLOAT IN THE LAGOON T6 

15. CLIMBING AFTEE COCOAS 84 

16. A MANGEOVE SWAMP 85 

IT. THE EOSEATE SPOONBILL r 89 

18. CAPTAIN DEUMMEE 93 

19. TUETLE CAYS 105 

20. SPEAEING TUETLE 109 

21. TEMPOEAL CAMP .• IIT 

22. A FEESHET IN THE ElVEE 122 

23. HUNTING THE MANITUS 133 

24. HAEPOONS AND LANCES 136 

25. TEOPICAL VEEDUEE 138 

26. MAEINE MOLLUSCA. 143 

2T. ON THE MOONLIT SEA 154 

28. VILLAGE OF QUAMWATLA 149 

29. FIGHT NEAE QUAMWATLA 153 

30. TAPIE CAMP 162 

31. PALMETTO EOYAL 166 

32. THE DEATH OF THE TAPIE. ; 1T2 

33. BIEDS OF THE LAGOONS 1T9 

34. LIFE AMONG THE LAGOONS 182 

85. CHASE ON TONGLA LAGOON 189 

36. FEVEE CAMP 200 

3T. TOWKAS INDIANS 202 

38. THE END OF IT ! 210 

39. TOWN OF SANDY BAY 215 

40. A GOLDEN IDOL 21T 

41. GENEEAL PETEE SLAM 221 

42. SUKIA OF SANDY BAY 228 

43. CAPE GEACIAS A DIOS 234 

44. HUNTING DEEE 23T 

45. EIVEE BOCA Y 251 

46. THE MOTHEE OF THE TIGEES 256 

4T. SANCTOAEY OF THE SUKIA 259 

48. SCENEEY ON THE EIVEE WANKS 2T2 

49. EMBAECADEEO ON THE TIEOLAS 2T6 

50. THE WAEEE 283 

51. THE MOUNTAIN CEEST 290 

52. A POYEE VILLAGE 295 

53. " THE GATEWAY OF HELL" 809 

54. VIEW AT BEUS 812 

55. APPEOACH TO 6UANAJA 825 

56. EEVEALING THE SECEET 882 



THE 



MOSQUITO SHORE. 



tVfli|^Ml -^ , 




MONTH in Jamaica is enough 
for any sinner's punishment, 
let alone that of a tolerably 
good Christian. At any rate, 
a week had given me a surfeit of Kingston, with 
its sinister, tropical Jews, and variegated inhabit- 
ants, one-half black, one-third brown, and the 
balance as fair as could be expected, considering 
the abominable, unintelligible Congo-English which 
they spoke. Besides, the cholera which seems to 



14 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

be domesticated in Kingstorij and to have be- 
come one of its local institutions, bad begun to 
spread from the stews, and to invade the more 
civilized parts of tbe town. All tbe inhabitants, 
therefore, whom the emancipation had left rich 
enough to do so, were flying to the mountains, 
with the pestilence following, like a sleuth-hound, 
at their heels. Kingston was palpably no place 
for a stranger, and that stranger a poor-devil artist. 

The cholera had cheated me of a customer. I 
was moody, and therefore swung myself in a 
hammock, lit a cigar, and held a grand inquisition 
on myself, as the poets are wont to do on their 
souls. It ran after this wise, with a very little noise 
but much smoke : — 

"Life is pleasant at twenty-six. Do you Kke 
life r 

Kather. 

" Then you can't like the cholera ?" 

No ! — ^with a hurried pull at the cigar. 

" But you '11 have it here V 

Then 111 be ofi"! 

"Where.?'' 

Any where ! 

"Good, but the exchequer, my boy, how about 
that ? You can't get away without money." 

There was a long pause, a great cloud of smoke, 
and much swinging in the hammock, and a final 
echo — 

Money ! Yes, I must have money ! 

So I got up, spasmodically opened my portman- 



THE artist's soliloquy. 15 

teau, dived deep amongst collars, pencils and foul 
linen, took out my purse, turned its contents on tlie 
table, and began to count. 

Forty-tbree and a half, forty-four, 'forty-five, and 
this bandful of small silver and copper. Call it 
fifty in all. 

" Only fifty dollars V ejaculated my mental in- 
terrogator. 

Only fifty ! responded I. 

"T won't do!" 

I lit another cigar. It was clear enough, it 
would n't do ; and I got into the hammock again. 
Commend me to a hammock, (a pita hammock, 
none of your canvas abominations,) and a cigar, as 
valuable aids to meditation and self-communion of 
all kinds. There was a long silence, but the in- 
quisition went on, until the cigar was finished. 
Finally " I '11 do it !" I exclaimed, in the voice of a 
man determined on some great deed, not agree- 
able but necessary, and I tossed the cigar stump 
out of the window. But what I determined to do, 
may seem no great thing after all ; it was only to 
paint the portrait of my landlady. 

" Yes, I '11 paint the old wench !" 



Now, I am an artist, not an author, and have 
got the cart before the horse, inasmuch as my 
narrative does not preserve the "harmonies," as 
every well-considered composition should do. It 
has just occurred to me that I should first have 



16 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

told who I am, and how I came to be in Jamaica, 
and especially in that filthy place^ Kingston. It 
is n't a long story, and if it is not too late, I will 
tell it now. 

As all the world knows, there are people who sell 
rancid whale oil, and deal in soap, and affect a 
great contempt for artists. They look down grand- 
ly on the quiet, pale men who paint then' broad red 
faces on canvas, and seem to think that the few 
greasy dollars which they grudgingly pay for their 
flaming immortality, should be received with meek 
confusion and blushing thanks, as a rare exhibition 
of condescension and patronage. I never liked such 
patronage, and therefore would paint no red faces. 
But there is a great difference between red, bulbous 
faces, and rosy faces. There was that sweet girl at 

the boarding-school in L Place, the Baltimore 

girl, with the dark eyes and tresses of the South, 
and the fair cheek and elastic step of the North ! 
Of course, I painted 'her portrait, a dozen times at 
least, I should say. I could paint it now ; and I 
fear it is more than painted on my heart, or it 
would n't rise smiling here, to distract my thoughts, 
make me sigh, and stop my story. 

An artist who would n't paint ]3ortraits and had 
a soul above patronage — what was there for him to 
do in ]N'ew York ? Two compositions a year in the 
Art Union, got in through Mr. Sly, the manager, 
and a friend of mine, were not an adequate support 
for the most moderate man. 1 11 paint grand his- 
torical paintings, thought I one day, and straight- 



THE ARTIST TEMPTED. 17 

way purchased a large canvas. I had selected my 
subject, Balboa, the discoverer of the Pacific, bear- 
ing aloft the flag of Spain, rushing breast-deep in 
its waves, and claiming its boundless shores and 
numberless islands for the crown of Castile and 
Leon. I had begun to sketch in the plumed In- 
dians, gazing in mute surprise upon this startling 
scene, when it occurred to me — ^for I have patches 
of common sense scattered amongst the flowery 
fields of my fancy — to count over the amount of 
my patrimonial portion. Grand historical paintings 
require years of study and labor, and I found I had 
but two hundred dollars, owed for a month's lodg- 
ing, and had an unsettled tailor's account. It was 
clear that historical painting was a luxury, for the 
present at least, beyond my reach. It was then 

some evil spirit, (I strongly suspect it was the ,) 

taking the cue doubtless from my projected picture, 
suggested : — 

" Try landscape, my boy ; you have a rare hand 
for landscapes — good flaming landscapes, full of 
yellow and vermillion, you know !" 

Although there was no one in the room, I can 
swear to a distinct slap on the back, after the em- 
phatic " you know" of the tempter. It was a true 
diabolical suggestion, the yeUow and vermillion, 
but not so sulphurous as what followed : — 

"Go to the tropics boy, the glorious tropics, 
where the sun is supreme, and never shares his do- 
minion with blue-nosed, leaden-colored, rheumy- 
eyed frost-gods ; go there, and catch the matchless 



18 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 

tints of the skies, the living emerald of the forests, 
and the light-giving azure of the waters ; go where 
the birds are rainbow-hued, and the very fish are 
golden ; where — " 

But I had heard enough ; I was blinded by the 
dazzling panorama which Fancy swept past my 
vision, and cried, with enthusiastic energy, 
" Hold ; I '11 go to the glorious tropics !" 
And I went — more's the pity — ^in a little dirty 
schooner, full of pork and flour ; and that is the 
way I came to be in Jamaica, dear reader, if you 
want to know. I had been there a month or more, 
and had wandered all over -the really magnificent 
interior, and filled my portfolio with sketches. But 
that did not satisfy me ; there were other tropical 
lands, where Nature had grander aspects, where 
there were broad lakes and high and snow-crowned 
volcanoes, which waved their plumes of smoke in 
mid-heaven, defiantly, in the very face of the sun ; 
lands through whose ever-leaved forests Cortez, 
Balboa, and Alvarado, and Cordova had led their 
mailed followers, and in whose depths frowned the 
strange gods of aboriginal superstition, beside the 
deserted altars and unmarked graves of a departed 
and mysterious people. Jamaica was beautiful cer- 
tainly, but I longed for what the transcendentalists 
call the sublimely-beautiful, or, in plain English, 
the combined sublime and beautiful — ^for, in short, 
an equatorial Switzerland. And, although Jamaica 
was fine in scenery, its dilapidated plantations, and 
filthy, lazy negroes, already more than half relapsed 



AKT IN KINGSTON. 19 

into native and congenial barbarism, were repug- 
nant to my Ameriean notions and tastes. They 
grinned around me, those negroes, when I ate, and 
scratched their heads over my paper when I drew. 
They followed me every where, like black jackals, 
and jabbered their incomprehensive lingo in my 
ears until they deafened me. And then their odor 
under tropical heats ! Faugh ! " 'Twas rank, and 
smelt to heaven \" 

I had, therefore, come down from the interior to 
set up my easel in Kingston, paint a few views, and 
thereby raise the wind for a trip to the mainland. 
Of course, I did not fly from painting red-faced 
portraits in the United States, to paint ebony ones 
in Jamaica. My scruples, however, did not apply 
to customers. There was a ^^ hroion man," which is 
genteel Jamaican for mulatto, who was an Assem- 
bly-man, or something of the kind, and wanted a 
view of the edifice , at Spanish-town, wherein he 
legislated for the " emancipated island." I . had 
agreed to paint it for the liberal compensation of 
twenty pounds. But one hot, murky morning, my 
brown lawgiver took the cholera, and before noon 
was not only dead, but buried — and my picture 
only half -finished ! Mem. As people have a prac- 
tice of dying, always get your pay beforehand. 

Voltaire, I believe, has said, that if a toad were 
asked his ideal of beauty, he would, most likely, 
describe himself, and dwell complacently on a cold, 
clammy, yellow belly, a brown, warty, corrugated 
back, and become ecstatic on the subject of goggle 



20 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

eyes. And, I verily believe, that if my landlady 
had been asked the same question, she would have 
coquettishly patted up her woolly curls over each 
oleaginous cheek, and glanced toward the mirror, by 
way of reply. Black, glossy black, and/a^, marvel- 
ously fat, yet she was possessed, even she, of her 
full share of feminine vanity. There was no mis- 
taking, from the first day of my arrival, that her 
head was running on a portrait of herself. She was 
fond of money and penurious, and careful, there- 
fore, not to venture upon a proposition until she 
had got some kind of a clew as to what her immor- 
tality would be likely to cost. I had, however, 
dijDlomatically evaded all of her approaches, up to 
the unfortunate day when my Assembly-man died. 
She brought me the news herself, and saw that it 
annoyed rather than shocked me, and that I stop- 
ped painting with the air of a man abandoning a 
bad job. She evidently thought the time favorable 
for a coup de main ; there was a gleam of cunning 
in her little, round, half-buried eyes, and the very 
ebony of her cheek lightened palpably, as she said : 

" So your picture will be no good for nothing ?" 

No ! 

" You have not got the ?" 

And she significantly rubbed the fore-finger of 
one hand in the palm of the other. 

No ! 

There was a pause, and then she resumed : 

" I want a picture !" 

Eh? 



A PORTRAIT, 21 

" A picture, you know I" 

And now she complacently stroked down her broad 
face, and exhibited a wide, vermilion chasm, with 
a formidable phalanx of ivories, by way of a sug- 
gestive smile. 

No, I never paint portraits ! 

" Not for ten pounds ?" 

No ; nor for a hundred, — go ! 

And my landlady rolled herself out of the room 
with a motion which, had she weighed less than 
two hundred, might have passed for a toss. 

It was on the evening of this day, and after this 
conversation, one half of the Assembly-house at 
Spanish-town staring redly from the canvas in the 
corner, that I lay in my hammock and soliloquized 
as aforesaid. It was thus and then, that I resolved 
to paint my landlady. 



And having now, by means of this long paren- 
thesis, restored the harmonies of my story, and got 
my horse and cart in correct relative positions, I am 
ready to go ahead. 

I not only resolved to paint my landlady, but I 
did it, right over the half-finished Assembly-house. 
It was the first, and, by the blessing of Heaven, so 
long as there are good potatoes to be dug at the 
rate of six cents the bushel, it shall be my last por- 
trait. I can not help laughing, even now, at that 
fat, glistening face, looking for all the world as if 
it had been newly varnished, surmounted by a 



22 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 

gaudy red scarf, wound round the head in the form 
of a peaked turban ; and two fat arms, rolling 
down like elephants' trunks against a white robe 
for a background, which concealed a bust that 
passeth description. That portrait — " long may it 
wave !" as the man said, at the Kossuth dinner, 
when he toasted " The day we celebrate !" 




MY LANDLADY, 



My landlady was satisfied, and generous withal, 
for she not only paid me the ten pounds, and gave 
me my two weeks board and lodging in the bargain, 
but introduced me to a colored gentleman, a friend 
of hers, who sailed a little schooner twice a year to 
the Mosquito Shore, on the coast of Central Amer- 
ica, where he traded off refuse rum and gaudy cot- 
tons for turtle-shells and sarsaparilla. There was a 
steamer from Kingston, once a month, to Cartha- 
gena, Chagres, San Juan, Belize, and '^ along 



THE ^'prince albert/' 23 

shore ;" but, for obvious reasons, I could not go 
in a steamer. So I struck up a bargain with the 
fragrant skipper, by the terms of which he bound 
himself to land me, bag and baggage, at Bluefields, 
the seat of Mosquito royalty, for the sum of three 
pounds, "currency." 

Why Captain Ponto (for so I shall call my land- 
lady's friend, the colored skipper) named his little 
schooner the " Prince Albert," I can not imagine, 
unless he thought thereby to do honor to the Queen- 
Consort ; for the aforesaid schooner had evidently 
got old, and been condemned, long before that lucky 
Dutchman woke the echoes of Gotha with his baby 
cries. The " Prince Albert" was of about seventy 
tons burden, built something on the model of the 
"Jung-frau," the first vessel of the Netherlands 
that rolled itself into New York bay, like some un- 
wieldy porpoise, after a rapid passage of about six 
months from the Hague. The wise men of the 
Historical Society have satisfactorily shown, after 
long and diligent research, that the "Jung-frau" 
measured sixty feet keel, sixty feet beam, and 
sixty feet hold, and was modeled after one of 
Rubens' Yenuses. The dimensions of the " Prince 
Albert" were every way the same, only twenty feet 
less. The sails were patched and the cordage 
spliced, and she did not leak so badly as^to require 
more than six hours' steady pumping out of the 
twenty-four. The crew was composed of Captain 
Ponto, Thomas, his mate, one seaman, and an In- 



24 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

dian boy from Yucatan, whose business it was to 
cook and do the pumping. As may be supposed, 
the Indian boy did not rust for want of occupa- 
tion. 

It was a clear morning, toward the close of De- 
cember, that Captain Ponto's wife, a white woman, 
with a hopeful family of six children, the three eld- 
est with shirts, and the three youngest without, 
came down to the schooner to see us off. I watched 
the parting over the after-bulwarks, and observed 
the tears roll down Mrs. Ponto's cheeks as she bade 
her sable spouse good-by. I wondered if she really 
could have any attachment for her husband, and if 
custom and association had utterly worn away the 
natural and instinctive repugnance which exists be- 
tween the superior and inferior races of mankind ? 
I thought of the condition of Jamaica itself, and 
mentally inquired if it were not due to a grand, 
practical misconception of the laws of Nature, and 
the inevitable result of their reversal ? It can not 
be denied that where the superior and inferior races 
are brought in contact, and amalgamate, there we 
uniformly find a hybrid stock springing up, with 
most, if not all of the vices, and few, if any of the 
virtues of the originals. And it will hardly be ques- 
tioned, by those experimentally acquainted with the 
subject, that the manifest lack of public morality and 
private virtue, in the Spanish- American States, has 
followed from the fatal facility with which the Span- 
ish colonists have intermixed with the negroes and 
Indians. The rigid and inexorable exclusion, in re-^ 



THE OPEN SEA. 25 

spect to the inferior races, of the dominant blood 
of North America, flowing through different chan- 
nels perhaps, yet from the same great Teutonic 
source, is one grand secret of its vitality, and the 
best safeguard of its permanent ascendency. 

Mrs. Ponto wept ; and as we slowly worked our 
way outside of Port Koyal, I could see her waving 
her apron, for she was innocent of a more classical 
signal, in fond adieus. We finally got out from 
under the lee of the land, and caught in our sails 
the full trade-wind, blowing steadily in the de- 
sired direction. I sat long on deck, watching the 
receding island sinking slowly in the bright sea, 
until Captain Ponto signified to me, in the patois 
of Jamaica, which the deluded people flatter them- 
selves is English, that dinner was ready, and led 
the way into what he called the cabin. This cabin 
was a little den, seven feet by nine at the utmost, 
low, dark and dirty, with no light or air except 
what entered through the narrow hatchway, and, 
consequently, hot as an oven. Two lockers, one on 
each side, answered for seats by day, and, covered 
with suspicious mattresses, for beds by night. The 
cabin was sacred to Captain Ponto and myself, the 
mate having been displaced to make room for the 
gentleman who had paid three pounds for his pas- 
sage ! I question if the " Prince Albert " had ever 
before been honored with a passenger ; certainly not 
since she had come into the hands of Captain Ponto, 
who therefore put his best foot forward, with a full 
consciousness of the importance of the incident. 

2 



26 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

Ponto had been a slave once, and was consequently 
imperious and tyrannical now, toward all |)eople in 
a subordinate relation to himself. Yet, as he had 
evidently been owned by a man of consequence, he 
had not entirely lost his early deference for the 
white man, and sometimes forgot Ponto the cap- 
tain in Ponto the chattel. It was in the latter 
character only, that he was perfectly natural ; 
and, although I derived no little amusement from 
his attempts to enact a loftier part, I shall not 
trouble the reader with an episode on Captain 
Ponto. He was a very worthy darkey, with a 
strong aversion to water, both exteriorly and in- 
ternally. The mate, and the man who constituted 
the crew, were ordinary negroes of no possible ac- 
count. 

But Antonio, the Indian boy, who cooked and 
pumped, and then pumped and cooked — I fear he 
never slept, for when there was not a " sizzling '' in 
the little black caboose, there was sure to be a 
screeching of the rickety pump — Antonio attracted 
my interest from the first ; and it was increased 
when I found that he spoke a httle English, was 
perfect in Spanish, and withal could read in both 
languages. There was something mysterious in 
finding him among these uncouth negroes, with 
his relatively fair skin, intelligent eyes, and long, 
well-ordered, black hair. He was like a lithe 
panther among lumbering bears ; and he did 
his work in a way which accorded with his In- 
dian character, without murmur, and with a kind 



ANTONIO, THE INDIAN BOY. 27 

of silent doggedness, that implied but little re- 
spect for his present masters. He seldom replied 
to their orders in words, and then only in mono- 
syllables. I asked Captain Ponto about him, but 
he knew nothing, except that he was from Yucatan, 
and had presented himself on board only the day 
previously, and offered to work his passage to the 
main land. And Captain Ponto indistinctly inti- 
mated that he had taken the boy solely on my ac-' 
count, which, of course, led to the inference on my 
part, that the captain ordinarily did his own cook- 
ing. He also ventured a patronizing remark about 
the Indians generally, to the effect that they made 
very good servants, " if they were kept under ;" 
which, coming from an ex-slave, I thought rather 
good. 

All this only served to interest me the more in 
Antonio ; and, although I succeeded in engaging 
him in ordinary conversation, yet I utterly failed in 
drawing him out, as the saying is, in respect to his 
past history, or future purposes. Whenever I ap- 
proached these subjects he became silent and im- 
passible, and his eyes assumed an expression of cold 
inquiry, not unmingled with latent suspicion, which 
half inclined me to believe that he was a fugitive 
from justice. Yet he did not look the felon or 
knave ; and when the personal inquiries dropped, 
his face resumed its usual pleasant although sad 
expression, and I became ashamed that I had sus- 
pected him. There was certainly something sin- 
gular about Antonio ; but, as I could imagine no 



28 



THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 



very profound mystery attacliing to a cook^ on 
board of the " Prince Albert/' after tbe first day, I 
made no attempts to penetrate bis secrets, but 
sougbt rather to attach him to me, as a prospect- 
ively useful companion in the country to which I 
was bound. So I relieved him occasionally at the 
pump, although he protested against it ; and 



l...^L 




ANTONIO. 



finally, to the horror of Captain Ponto, and the 
palpable high disdain of the mate, I became so in- 
timate with him as to show him my portfolio of 
drawings. His admiration, I found to my surprise, 
was always judiciously bestowed, and his apprecia- 
tion of outline and coloring showed that he had 
the spirit of an artist. Several times, in glancing 



GATHERING OF THE STORM. 29 

over the drawings^ he stopped short, looked up, his 
face full of intelligence, as if about to speak, and I 
paused to listen. Each time, however, the smile 
vanished, the flexible muscles ceased their play and 
became rigid, and a cold, filmy mist settled over the 
clear eyes which had looked into mine. Whatever 
was Antonio^'s secret, great or small, it was evi- 
dently one that he half-wished, half-feared to re- 
veal. I was puzzled to think that there could 
exist any relation between it and my paintings ; 
but Antonio was only a cook, and so I dismissed all 
reflection on the subject. 

On our third day out, the weather, which up to 
that time had been clear and beautiful, began to 
change, and night settled black and threatening 
around us. The wind had increased, but it was 
loaded with sultry vapors — the hot breath of the 
storm which was pressing on our track. Captain 
Ponto was not a scientific sailor, and kept no other 
than what is called "dead reckoning.^' He had 
made the voyage very often, and was confidant of 
his course. Upon that point, therefore, I gave 
myself no uneasiness ; not so much from faith in 
Captain Ponto, as because there was nothing in the 
world to be done, except to follow his opinion. 
Nevertheless the captain was serious, and consulted 
an antediluvian chart which he kept in his cabin. 
It was a Rembrandtish picture, that negro tracing 
his forefinger slowly over the chart, by the light of 
a candle, which only half revealed the little cabin, 
while it brought out his grizzly head and anxious 



30 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

face in strong relief against the darkness. What 
Captain Ponto learned from all this study is more 
than I can tell ; but when he came on deck, he 
ordered a reef to be made in the sails, and a 
variation of several points in our course, for the 
wind not only freshened, but veered to the north- 
east. The hot blasts or puffs of air became more 
and more frequent, and occasional sheets of light- 
ning gleamed along the horizon. The sea, too, 
was full of phosphorescent light ; fiery monsters 
seemed to leap around us and wreath and twine 
their livid volumes in our wake. I could hear the 
hiss of their forked tongues where the waters closed 
under our stern. I stood, leaning over the bul- 
warks, gazing on the gleaming waves, and thinking 
of home — ^for the voyager on the great deep always 
thinks of home, when darkness envelops him, and 
the storm threatens — ^when Antonio silently ap- 
proached, so silently that I did not hear him, 
and took his place at my side. I was somewhat 
startled, therefore, when, changing my position a 
little, I saw, by the dim, reflected light of the sea, 
his eyes fixed earnestly on mine. " Ah, Antonio," I 
said, " is that you ?" and I placed my hand famil- 
iarly on his shoulder. He shrank beneath it, as if it 
had been fire. " What 's the matter ?" I exclaimed, 
reproachfully ; " have I hurt you ?" 

" Pardon me \" he ejaculated, rather than spoke, 
in a voice deep and tremulous ; "I know now that 
it is not you who will die to-night \" 

" What do you mean ? You are not afraid, Anto- 



THE LORD WHO NEVER LIES. 31 

nio ? Who thinks of dying ?'' I replied, in a light 
tone. 

" No ! it is not myself. I was afraid it might be 
you ; for, sir," and he laid a hand cold and clammy 
as that of a corpse on mine ; " for, sir, there is 
death on board this vessel \" 

This was said in a voice so awed and earnest that 
I was impressed deeply, in spite of myself, and for 
some moments made no reply. " You talk wildly, 
Antonio," I finally said ; " we are going on bravely, 
and shall all be in Bluefields together in a day or 
two." 

" All of us, never," he replied, " never ! The Lord, 
who never lies, has told me so !" and, pressing near 
me, he drew from his bosom something resembling 
a small, round plate of crystal, except that it 
seemed to be slightly luminous, and veined or 
clouded with green. " See, see !" he exclaimed, 
rapidly, and held the object close to my eyes. I 
instinctively obeyed, and gazed intently upon it. 
As I gazed, the clouds of green seemed to concen- 
trate and assume a regular form, as the moisture of 
one's breath passes away from a mirror, until I 
distinctly saw, in the center, the miniature of a 
human head, of composed and dignified aspect, but 
the eyes were closed, and all the lineaments had the 
rigidity of death. 

" Do you see ?" 

" I do !" 

" It is Kucimen, the Lord who never lies !" and 
Antonio thrust his talisman in his bosom again. 



32 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

and slowly moved away. There was no mistake in 
what I had seen^ and although I am not supersti- 
tious, yet the feeling that some catastrophe was 
impending gathered at my heart. It was in vain 
that I tried to smile at the Indian trick ; the earnest 
voice of the Indian boy still sounded in my ears/ 
" All of us, never V What reason should he have 
for attempting to practice his Indian diablerie 
on any one, least of all on me ? I rejected the 
thought, and endeavored to banish the subject from 
my mind. 

Meanwhile the wind had gathered strength, and 
Captain Ponto had taken in sail, so that we had no 
more standing than was necessary to keep the vessel 
' steady before the wind. The waves now began to 
rise, the gloom deepened, the hot puffs of air 
became more and more frequent, and the broad 
lightning-sheets rose from the horizon to the very 
zenith. The thunder, too, came rolling on, every 
peal more distinctly, and occasional heavy drops of 
rain fell with an ominous sound on the deck. The 
storm was evidently close at hand ; and I left the 
side of the vessel, and approached the little cabin 
to procure my poncho, for I preferred the open deck 
and the storm to the suffocation below. The hatch- 
way was nearly closed, but there was a light within. 
I stooped to remove the slide, and in doing so 
obtained a full view of the interior. The spectacle 
which presented itself was so extraordinary that I 
stopped short, and looked on in mute surprise. 
The candle was standing on the locker, and kneel- 



THE OBI SUPERSTITION. 



g3 



ing beside it was the captain. He was stripped to 
tlie waist, and held in one hand what appeared to 
be the horn of some animal, in which he caught the 
blood which dripped from a large gash in the fleshy 
part of his left arm, just above the elbow, while he 
muttered rapidly some rude and strangely-sounding 
words, unlike any I had ever before heard. My 
first impression was that Antonio had tried to fulfill 
his own prediction, by attempting the life of the 
captain ; but I soon saw that he was performing 
some religious rite, a sacrifice or propitiation, such 
as the Ohi men still teach in Jamaica and Santo 
Domingo, and which are stealthily observed, even by 
the negroes professing Christianity and having a 
nominal connection with the church. I recognized 
in the horn the mysterious gre-gre of the Gold Coast, 
where the lowest form of fetish worship prevails, 
and where human blood is regarded as the most 
acceptable of sacrifices. Kespecting too rigidly all 
ceremonies and rites, which may contribute to the 
peace of mind of others, to think of disturbing them, 
I silently withdrew from the hatchway, and left the 
captain to finish his debasing devotions. In a short 
time he appeared on deck, and gave some orders in 
a calm voice, as one reassured and confident. 

I was occupied below for only a few minutes, 
yet when I got on deck again the storm was upon 
us. The waves were not high, but the water 
seemed to be caught up by the wind, and to be 
drifted along, like snow, in blinding, drenching 
sheets. I was nearly driven oif my feet by its 

2* 



84 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 

force, and would have been carried overboard bad I 
not become entangled in tbe riggiag. The bowling 
of tbe wind and tbe bissing of tbe water would bave 
drowned tbe loudest voice, and I was so bbnded by 
tbe spray tbat I could not see. Yet I could feel 
tbat we were driving before tbe burricane witb 
fearful rapidity. Tbe very deck seemed to bend, as 
if ready to break, beneatb our feet. I finally suffi- 
ciently recovered myself to be able, in tbe pauses of 
tbe wind, and wben tbe ligbtning fell, to catcb 
glimpses around me. Our sails were torn in tatters, 
tbe yards were gone, in fact every tbing was swept 
fi-om tbe deck except tbree dark figures, like myself, 
clinging convulsively to tbe ropes. On, on, balf- 
buried in tbe sea, we .drifted witb inconceivable 
rapidity. 

Little did we tbink tbat we were rusbing on a 
danger more terrible tban tbe ocean. Tbe storm bad 
buffeted us for more tban an bour, and it seemed as 
if it bad exhausted its wratb, and bad begun to 
subside, wben a sound, boarse and steady, but 
louder even tban tbat of tbe wind, broke on our 
ears. It was evident tbat we were approaching it, 
for every instant it became more distinct and omin- 
ous. I gazed ahead into tbe hopeless darkness, 
wben suddenly a broad sheet of ligbtning revealed 
immediately before us, and not a cable's length 
distant, what, under the lurid gleam, appeared to 
be a wall of white spray, dashing literally a hun- 
dred feet in the air — a hell of waters, from which 
there was no escape. '^El Eoncador !" shrieked the 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



35 



captain, in a voice of utter despair, that even then 
thrilled like a knife in my heart. The fearful 
moment of death had come, and I had barely time 
to draw a full breath of preparation for the strug- 
gle, when we were literally whelmed in the raging 
waters. I felt a shock, a sharp jerk, and the hiss 
and gurgle of the sea, a sensation of immense 
pressure, followed by a blow like that of a heavy 
fall. Again I was lifted up, and again struck 
down, but this time with less force. I had just 




THE SHIPWRECK. 



enough consciousness left to know that I was strik- 
ing on the sand, and I made an involuntary effort 
to rise and escape from the waves. Before I could 
gain my feet I was again struck down, again and 
again, until, nearer dead than alive, I at last suc- 
ceeded in crawling to a spot where the water did 
not reach me. I strove to rise now, but could not ; 
and, as that is the last thing I remember distinctly 
pf that terrible night, I suppose I must have fallen 
into a swoon. 



vV 





OW long I remained insensible I 
know not, but when my conscious- 
ness returned, which it did slowly^ 
like the lifting of a curtain, I felt 
that I was severely hurt ; and, before opening my 
eyes, tried to drive away my terrible recollections, 
as one rousino: from a troubled dream tries to ban- 
ish its features from his mind. It was in vain ; 
and, with a sensation of despair, I opened my eyes ! 
The morning sun was shining with blinding bril- 
liancy, and I was obliged to close them again. 
Soon, however, I was able to bear the blaze, and, 
painfully lifting myself on my elbow, looked around 
me. The sea was thundering with awful force, not 
on the sandy shore where I was lying, but over a 
reef two hundred yards distant, within which the 
water was calm, or only disturbed by the combing 
waves, as they broke over the outer barrier. Here 



"el roncador/* 37 

the first and only object which attracted my atten- 
tion was our schooner, lying on her beam ends, high 
on the sands. The sea, the vessel, the blinding 
sun and glowing sand, and a bursting pain in my 
head, were too palpable evidences of my misfortune 
to be mistaken. It was no dream, but stern and 
severe reality, and for the moment I comprehended 
the truth. But, when younger, I had read of ship- 
wrecks, and listened, with the interest of childhood, 
and a feeling half of envy, to the tales of old sailors 
who had been cast away on desert shores. And 
now, the first shock over, it was almost with a 
sensation of satisfaction, and something of exulta- 
tion, that I exclaimed to myself, " shipwrecked at 
last \" Kobinson Crusoe, and Keilly and his com- 
panions, recurred to my mind, and my impulse was 
to leap up and commence an emulative career. 
But the attempt was a failure, and brought me 
back to stern reality, in an instant. My limbs were 
torn and scarified, and my face swollen and stiff. 
The utmost I could do was to sit erect. 

I now, for the first time, thought of my compan- 
ions, and despairingly turned my eyes to look for 
them. Close by, and nearly behind me, sat Anto- 
nio, resting his head on his hands. His clothes 
were hanging around him in shreds, his hair was 
matted with sand, and his face was black with 
dried blood. He attempted to smile, but the grim 
muscles could not obey, and he looked at me in si- 
lence. I was the first to speak : 

Are you much hurt, Antonio ? 



38 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

" The Lord of Mitnal never lies '/' was his only 
response ; and he pointed to the talisman on his 
swarthy breast, gleaming like polished silver in the 
sun. I remembered the scene of the previous night, 
and asked ; — 

Are they all dead ? 

He shook his head, in sign of ignorance. 

Where are we, Antonio ? 

" This is El Koncador !" 

And so it proved. We were on one of the nu- 
merous coral keys or cays which stud the sea of the 
Antilles, and which are the terror of the mariners 
who navigate it. They are usually mere banks of 
sand, elevated a few feet above the water, occasion- 
ally supporting a few bushes, or a scrubby, tempest- 
twisted palm or two, and only frequented by the 
sea-birds for rest and incubation, and by turtles for 
laying their eggs. Around them there is always a 
reef of coral, built up from the bottom of the sea by 
those wonderful architects, the coral insects. This 
reef surrounds the cay, at a greater or less distance, 
like a ring, leaving between it and the island prop- 
er a belt of water, of variable depth, and of the 
loveliest blue. The reef, which is sometimes scarce- 
ly visible above the sea, effectually breaks the force 
of the waves ; and if, as it sometimes happens, it 
be interrupted so as to leave an opening for the ad- 
mission of vessels, the inner belt of water forms a 
safe harbor. Except a few of the larger ones, none 
of these cays are inhabited, nor are they ever fre- 
quented, except by the turtle fishers. 



39 

It was to the peculiar conformation of these 
islands that our safety was owing. Our little vessel 
had heen driven, or lifted loj the waves, completely 
over the outer reef. The shock had torn us from 
our hold on the ropes, and we had drifted upon the 
comparatively protected sands. The vessel too, 
had been carried upon them, and the waves there 
not being sufficiently strong to break her in pieces, 
she was left high and dry when they subsided. 
There was, nevertheless, a broad break in her keel, 
caused probably by striking on the reef. 

Two of the -^YQ human beings who had been on 
board of her, the captain and his mate, were drown- 
ed. We found their bodies ; — but I am anticipat- 
ing my story. When we had recovered ourselves 
sufficiently to walk, Antonio and myself took a sur- 
vey of our condition. " El Roncador," the Snorer, 
is a small cay, three quarters of a mile long, and at 
its widest part not more than four hundred yards 
broad, — a mere bank of white sand. At the east- 
ern end is an acre or more of scrubby bushes, and 
near them three or four low and distorted palm- 
trees. Fortunately for us, as will be seen in the 
sequel, " El Eoncador'' is famous for the number 
of its turtles, and is frequented, at the turtle season, 
by turtle-fishers from Old Providence, and some- 
times from the main land. Among the palm- 
trees, to which I have referred, these fishermen had 
erected a rude hut of poles, boards, and palm- 
branches, which was literally withed and anchored 
to the trees, to keep it from being blown away by 



40 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

the high winds. It was with a heart full of joy 
that I saw even this rude evidence of human intelli- 
gence, and, accompanied by Antonio, hastened to it 
as rapidly as my bruised limbs would enable me. 
We discovered no trace of recent occupation as we 
approached, except a kind of furrow in the sand, 
like that which some sea-monster, dragging itself 
along, might occasion. It led directly to the hut, 
and I followed it, with a feeHng half of wonder, 
half of apprehension. As we came near, however, 
I saw, through the open front, a black human fig- 
ure crouching within, motionless as a piece of 
bronze. Before it, stretched at length, was the 
dead body of Captain Ponto. The man was Frank, 
of whom I have spoken, as constituting the crew of 
the Prince Albert. It was a fearful sight ! The 
body of the captain was swollen, the limbs were 
stiff and spread apart, the mouth and eyes open, 
and conveying an expression of terror and utter de- 
spair, which makes me shudder, even now, when I 
think of it. Upon his breast, fastened by a strong 
cord, drawn close at the throat, was the mysterious 
gre-gre horn, and the gash in his arm, from which 
the poor wretch had drawn the blood for his un- 
availing sacrifice, had opened wide its white edges, 
as if in mute appeal against his fate. 

The negro sailor had drawn the body of the 
captain to the hut, and the trail in the sand was 
that which it had made. I spoke to him, but he 
neither replied nor looked up. His eyes were fixed, 
as if by some fascination, on the corpse. Antonio 



A SCENE WITH THE DEAD. 41 

exhibited no emotion, but advancing close to the 
body lifted the gre-gre horn, eyed it curiously for a 
moment, then tossed it contemptuously aside, ex- 
claiming : — 

" It could not save him : it is not good !" 
The words were scarcely uttered, when the 
crouching negro leaped, like a wild beast, at the 
Indian's throat ; but Antonio was agile, and evaded 
his grasp. The next instant the poor wretch had 
returned to his seat beside the dead. The negro 
could not endure a sneer at the potency of the 
gre-gre. Such is the hold of superstition on the 
human mind ! 

I tried to induce the negro to remove the body, 
and bury it in the sand ; but he remained silent and 
impassible as a stone. So I returned with Antonio 
to the vessel, for the instincts of life had come 
back. We found, although the little schooner had 
been completely filled, that the water had escaped, 
and left the cargo damaged, but entire. Some of 
the provisions had been destroyed, and the re- 
mainder was much injured. Nevertheless they 
could be used, and for the time being, at least, we 
were safe from starvation. My spirits rose with the 
discovery, and I almost forgot my injuries in the 
joy of the moment. But Antonio betrayed no 
signs of interest. He lifted boxes and barrels, and 
placed them on the sands, as deliberately as if un- 
loading the vessel at Kingston. I knew that it was 
not probable the wrecked schooner would suffer 
further damage from the sea, protected as it was 



42 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

by the outer reef, yet I sought to make assurance 
doubly sure, by removing what remained of the 
provisions to the hut by the palm-trees. Antonio 
suggested nothing, but implicitly followed my di- 
rections. 

We had got out most of the stores, and carried 
them above the reach of the waters on the sands, 
when I went back to the hut, with the determina- 
tion, by at once assuming a tone of authority, to" 
have the negro remove and bury the body of 
the captain. I was surprised to find the hut 
empty, and a trail, like that which had attracted 
my notice in the morning, leading off in the direc- 
tion of the bushes, at some distance from the hut. 
I followed it ; and, in the centre of the clump, dis- 
covered the negro filling in the sand above the 
corpse. He mumbled constantly strange guttural 
words, and made many mysterious signs on the 
sand, as he proceeded. When the hole was entirely 
filled, he laid himself at length above it. I waited 
some minutes, but as he remained motionless, re- 
turned to the hut. We now commenced carrying 
to it, such articles of use as could be easily removed. 
But we had not accomplished much when Frank, the 
negro, presented himself ; and, approaching me, in- 
quired meekly what he should do. He was least 
injured of the three, and proved most serviceable in 
clearing the wreck of all of its useful and moveable 
contents. 

By night I had bandaged my own wounds and 
those of my companions, and over a simple but 



A NIGHT OF DELIRIUM. 43 

profuse meal, forgot the horrors of the shipwreck, 
and gave myself up, with real zest, to the pleasures 
of a cast-away ! I cannot well describe the sensa- 
tion of mingled novelty and satisfaction, with which 
I looked out from the open hut upon the turbulent 
waters, whence we had so narrowly escaped. The 
sea still heaved from the effects of the storm, but 
the storm itself had passed, and the full tropical 
moon looked down calmly upon our island, which 
seemed silvery and fairy-like beneath its rays. 

At first, all these things were quieting in their in- 
fluences, but as the night advanced I must have be- 
come feverish, for notwithstanding the toils of the 
day, and the exhaustion of the previous night, I 
could not sleep. My thoughts were never so active. 
All that I had ever seen, heard, or done, flashed 
back upon my mind with the vividness of reahty. 
But, owing to some curious psychical condition, 
my mind was only retrospectively active ; I tried in 
vain to bring it to a contemplation of the present 
or the future. Incidents long forgotten jostled 
through my brain ; the grave mingling strangely 
with the gay. Now I laughed outright over some 
freak of childhood, which came back with primitive 
freshness ; and, next moment, wept again beside the 
bed of death, or found myself singing some hitherto 
unremembered nursery rhyme. I struggled against 
these thronging memories, and tried to ask myself 
if they might not be premonitions of delirium. I 
felt my own pulse, it beat rapidly ; my own fore- 
head, and it seemed to burn. In the vague hope of 



44 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 

averting whatever this strange mental activity 
might portend, I rose and walked down to the edge 
of the water. I remember distinctly that the shore 
seemed black with turtles, and that I thought them 
creations of a disordered fancy, and became almost 
mad under the mere apprehension that the mad- 
ness was upon me. 

I might, and undoubtedly would, have become 
mad, had it not been for Antonio. He had missed 
me from the hut ; and, in alarm, had come to seek 
me. I felt greatly relieved when he told me that 
there were real turtles on the shore, and not mon- 
sters of the imagination ; and that it was now the 
season for laying their eggs, and therefore it could 
not be long before the fishers would come for their 
annual supply of shells. So I suffered him to lead 
me back to the hut. When I laid down he took 
my head between his hands, and pressed it steadily, 
but apparently with all his force. The effect was 
soothing, for in less than half an hour my ideas had 
recovered their equilibrium, and I fell into a slum- 
ber, and slept soundly until noon of the following 
day. 

When I awoke, Antonio was sitting close by me, 
and intently watching every movement. He smiled 
when my eyes met his, and pointing to his forehead 
said significantly — 

" It is all right now !" 

And it was all right, but I felt weak and feverish 
still. A sound constitution, however, resisted aU 
attacks, and it was not many days before I was able 



CATCHING TURTLES. 45 

to move around our sandy prison, and join Antonio 
and Frank in catching turtles ; for, with more fore- 
sight than I had supposed to belong to the Indian 
and negro character, they were laying in a stock of 
shells, against the time when we should find an op- 
portunity of escape. Upon the side of our island, to 
which I have alluded as covered with bushes, the 
water was comparatively shoal, and the bottom 
overgrown with a species of sea-grass, which is a 
principal article of turtle-food. The surface of the 
water, also, was covered with a variety of small blub- 
ber fish, which Antonio called by the Spanish name 
of dedales, or thimbles — a name not inappropriate, 
since they closely resembled a lady's thimble both 
in shape and size. These, at the spawning or egg- 
laying period of the year, constitute another article 
of turtle-food. During the night-time the turtles 
crawled up on the shore, and the females dug holes 
in the sand, each about two feet deep, in which 
they deposited from sixty to eighty eggs. These 
they contrived to cover so neatly, as to defy the 
curiosity of one unacquainted with their habits. 
Both Antonio and Frank, however, were familiar 
with turtle-craft, and got as many eggs as we de- 
sired. When roasted, they are really delicious. 
The Indians and people of the coasts never destroy 
them, being careful to promote the increase of this 
valuable shell-fish. But on the main land, wild 
animals, such for instance as the cougar, frequently 
come down to the shore, and dig them from their 
resting places. Occasionally they capture the turtles 



46 



THE MOSQUITO SHORE 



themselves, and dragging them into the forest. Mil 
and devour them, in spite of their shelly armor. 

It was during the night, therefore, that Antonio 
and Frank, who kept themselves concealed in the 
bushes, rushed out upon the turtles, and with iron 
hooks turned them on their backs, when they be- 
came powerless and incapable of moving. The day 
following, they dragged them to the most distant 
part of the island, where they " shelled " them ; — a 




HELLING TURTLES. 



cruel process, which it made my flesh creep to 
witness. Before describing it, however, I must ex- 
plain that, although the habits of all varieties of 
the turtle are much the same, yet their uses are 
very different. The large, green turtle is best 
known ; it frequently reaches our markets, and its 
flesh is esteemed, by epicures, as a great delicacy. 



"shelling'' turtles. 47 

The flesh of the smaller or hawk-hill variety is not 
so good, hut its shell is most valuahle, heing hoth 
thicker and hetter-colored. What is called tor- 
toise-shell is not, as is generally supposed, the hony 
covering or shield of the turtle, hut only the scales 
which cover it. These are thirteen in numher, 
eight of them flat, and five a little curved. Of the 
flat ones four are large, heing sometimes a foot 
long and seven inches hroad, semi-transparent, 
elegantly variegated with white, red, yellow, and 
dark hrown clouds, which are fully hrought out, 
when the shell is prepared and polished. These 
laminae, as I have said, constitute the external 
coating of the solid or hony part of the shell ; and 
a large turtle affords ahout eight pounds of them, 
the plates varying from an eighth to a quarter of an 
inch in thickness. 

The fishers do not kill the turtles ; did they do 
so, they would in a few years exterminate them. 
When the turtle is caught, they fasten him, and 
cover his back with dry leaves or grass, to which 
they set fire. The heat causes the plates to separ- 
ate at their joints. A large knife is then carefully 
inserted horizontally beneath them, and the lam- 
inae lifted from the back, care being taken not to 
injure the shell by too much heat, nor to force it 
off, until the heat has fully prepared it for separa- 
tion. Many turtles die under this cruel operation, 
but instances are numerous in which they have 
been caught a second time, with the outer coating 
reproduced ; but, in these cases, instead of thirteen 



48 



THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 



j)ieces, it is a single piece. As I have already said, 
I could never bring myself to witness this cruelty 
more than once, and was glad that the process of 
" scaling"" was carried on out of sight of the hut. 
Had the poor turtles the power of shrieking, they 
would have made that barren island a very hell, 
with their cries of torture. 

We had been nearly two weeks on the island, 
when we were one morning surprised by a sail on 
the edge of the horizon. We watched it eagerly, 
and as it grew more and more distinct, our spirits 
rose in proportion. Its approach was slow, but at 

noon Frank declared that 
it was a turtle schooner, 
'-'r from the island of Cata- 




ASAILl A sail! 

rina or Providence, and that it was making for " El 
Eoncador." And the event proved that he was 
right ; for, about the middle of the afternoon, 
she had passed an opening through the reef, and 
anchored in the still water inside. She had a crew 
of five men, in whom it was difiicult to say if 
white, negro, or Indian blood predominated. They 
spoke a kind of patois, in which Spanish was the 
leading element. And although we were unquali- 



SUSPICIOUS VISITORS. 49 

fiedly glad to see them, yet they were clearly not 
pleased to see us. The patron, or captain, no 
sooner put his foot on shore, than affecting to re- 
gard us as intruders, he demanded why we were 
there ? and if we did not know that this island 
was the property of the people of Catarina ? We 
replied by pointing to our shattered schooner, when 
the whole party started for it, and unceremoni- 
ously began to strip it of whatever article of use or 
value they could find, leaving us to the pleasant 
reflections which such conduct was likely to suggest. 
While this was going on, I returned to the hut, 
and found that Antonio and Frank had already re- 
moved the shells which they had procured, as also 
some other valuables which we had recovered from 
the wreck, and had buried them in the sand — a 
prudent precaution, which no doubt saved us much 
trouble. A little before sundown, our new friends, 
having apparently exhausted the plunder, came 
trooping back to the hut, and without ceremony or- 
dered us out. I thought, although the physical 
force was against us, that a little determination 
might make up for the odds, and firmly replied that 
they might have a part of it, if they wished, but 
that we were there, and intended to remain. The 
patron hereupon fell into a great passion, and told 
his men to bring up the machetes — ugly instru- 
ments, half knife, half cleaver. " He would see,'' 
he said, in his mongrel tongue, " if this white vil- 
lain would refuse to obey him." Two of the men 
started to fulfill his order, while he stood scowhng 

3 



50 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

in, the doorway. When they had got off a little dis- 
tance, I unrolled a blanket in which I had wrapped 
our pistolSj and giving one to Frank, and another 
to Antonio, I took my own revolver, and passed 
outside of the hut. The patron fell back, in evi- 
dent alarm. 

" ]N"ow, amigo,"' said I, " if you want a fight, 
you shall have it ; but you shall die first !" And I 
took deliberate aim at his breast, at a distance of 
less than five yards. " Mother of Mercy !" he ex- 
claimed, and glanced round, as if for support, to 
his followers. But they had taken to their legs, 
without waiting for further proceedings. The 
patron attempted to follow, but I caught him by 
the arm, and pressed the cold muzzle of the pistol 
to his head. He trembled like an aspen, and sunk 
upon the ground, crying in most abject tones for 
mercy. I released him, but he did not attempt to 
stir. The circumstances were favorable for negotia- 
tion, and in a few minutes it was arranged that we 
should continue to occupy the hut, and that he 
should remain with us, while his crew should stay 
on board the vessel, when not engaged in catching 
turtles. He did not Hke the exception in his favor ; 
but, fearing that he might pull up anchor and leave 
us to our fate, I insisted that I could not forego the 
pleasure of his company. 

The reader may be sure that I had a vigilant eye 
on our patron, and at night either Antonio or 
Frank kept watch, that he should not give us the 
slip. He made one or two attempts, but finding us 



DEPARTURE FROM THE CAY. 51 

prepared, at the end of a couple of days, resigned 
himself to his fate. Contenting ourselves with our 
previous spoil, we allowed the new comers to pur- 
sue the fishery alone. At the end of a week I 
discovered, by various indications, that the season 
was nearly over, and, accordingly, making a care- 
less display of my revolver, told the captain that I 
thought it would be more agreeable for us to go on 
board his schooner, than to remain on shore. I 
could see that the proposition was not acceptable, 
and therefore repeated it, in such a way that 
there was no alternative but assent left. He was a 
good deal surprised when he discovered the amount 
of shells which we had obtained ; and when I told 
him that he should have half of it, for carrying us 
to Providence, and the whole if he took us to Blue- 
fields, his good nature returned. He asked pardon 
for his rudeness, and, slapping his breast, pro- 
claimed himself " un liombre hueno" who would 
take us to the world's end, if I would only put up 
my horrible pistol. That pistol, from the very first 
day, had had a kind of deadly fascination for the 
patron, who watched it, as if momentarily expecting 
it to discharge itself at his head. And even now, 
when he alluded to it, a perceptible shudder ran 
through his frame. 

Two days after I had taken up my quarters on 
board of the little schooner, which, in age and accu- 
mulated filth, might have been twin-brother of the 
Prince Albert, we set sail from " El Roncador." 
As it receded in the distance, it looked very beauti- 



52 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

fal — an opal in the sea — and I could hardly realize 
that it was nothing more than a reef-girt heap of 
desert sands. 

Although friendly relations had been restored 
with the patron, for the crew seemed nearly passive, 
I kept myself constantly on my guard against foul 
play. Antonio was sleeplessly vigilant. But the 
patron, so far from having evil designs, appeared 
really to have taken a liking to me, and expatiated 




"el roncador. 



upon the delights of Providence, where he repre- 
sented himself as being a great man, with much un- 
couth eloquence. He promised that I should bs 
well received, and that he would himself get up a 
dance — ^which he seemed to think the height of 
civility — in my honor. 

About noon, on our third day from " El Konca- 
dor," the patron pointed out to me two light blue 
mounds, one sharp and conical, and the other round 
and broad, upon the edge of the horizon. They 
were the highlands of Providence. Before night, 
we had doubled the rocky headland of Santa Cata- 
rina, crowned with the ruins of some old Spanish 
fortifications, and in half an hour were at anchor. 



ISLAND OF PROVIDENCE. 53 

alongside a large New Granadian schooner, in the 
small but snug harbor of the island. 

This island is almost unknown to the world ; it 
haSj indeed, very little to commend it to notice. 
Although accounted a single island, it is, in fact, 
two islands ; one is six or eight miles long, and 
four or ^ye broad, and but moderately elevated ; 
while the second, which is a rocky headland, called 
Catarina, is separated from the main body by a 
narrow but deep channel. The whole belongs to 
New Granada, and has about three hundred inhab- 
itants, extremely variegated in color, but with a 
decided tendency to black. This island was a 
famous resort of the pirates, during their predom- 
inance in these parts, who expelled the Spaniards, 
and built defences, by means of which they several 
times repelled their assailants. 

The productions consist chiefly of fruits and vege- 
tables ; a little cotton is also raised, which, with the 
turtle-shells collected by the inhabitants, constitutes 
about the only export of the island. Vessels coming 
northward sometimes stop there, for a cargo of 
cocoa-nuts and yucas. 

As can readily be imagined, the people are very 
primitive in their habits, living chiefly in rude, 
thatched huts, and leading an indolent, tropical 
life, swinging in their hammocks and smoking by 
day, and dancing, to the twanging of guitars, by 
night. My patron, whom I had suspected of being 
something of a braggart, was in reality a very con- 
siderable personage in Providence, and I was re- 



54 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

ceived with great favor by the people, to whom he 
introduced me as his own " very special friend." I 
thought of our first interview on "El Eoncador/' 
but suppressed my inclination to laugh, as well as I 
was able. True to his promise, the second night 
after our arrival was dedicated to a dance. The 
only preparation for it consisted in the production 
of a number of large wax candles, resembling 
torches in size, and the concoction of several big- 
vessels of drink, in which Jamaica rum, some fresh 
-juice of the sugar-cane, and a quantity of powdered 
peppers were the chief ingredients. The music 
consisted of a violin, two guitars and a queer Indian 
instrument, resembhng a bow, the string of which, 
if the critic will pardon the bull, was a brass wire 
drawn tight by means of a perforated gourd, and 
beaten with a stick, held by the performer, between 
his thumb and forefinger. 

I cannot attempt to describe the dance, which, 
not over delicate at the outset, became outrageous 
as the calabashes of liquor began to circulate. 
Both sexes drank and danced, until most could 
neither drink nor dance ; and then, it seemed to me, 
they all got into a general quarrel, in which the 
musicians broke their respective instruments over 
each other's heads, then cried, embraced, and were 
friends again. I did not wait for the end of the de- 
bauch, which soon ceased to be amusing ; but, with 
Antonio, stole away, and paddled off to the little 
schooner, where the last sounds that rung in my ears 
were the shouts and discordant songs of the revelers. 



HO, FOR THE MAIN-LAND ! 55 

Providence, it can easily be understood, offered 
few attractions to an artist minus the materials for 
pursuing liis vocation ; and I was delighted when I 
learned that the New G-ranadian schooner was on 
the eve of her departure for San Juan de Nicara- 
gua. Her captain readily consented to land me at 
Bluefields, and our patron magnificently waived all 
claims to the tortoise-shells which we had obtained 
at "El Roncador/' I had no difficulty in selling 
them to the captain of " El G-eneral Bolivar" for the 
unexpected sum of three hundred dollars. Fifty 
dollars of these I gave to the negro Frank, who was 
quite at home in Providence. I offered to divide 
the rest with Antonio, but he refused to receive any 
portion of it, and insisted on accompanying me 
without recompense. " You are my brother," said 
he, " and I will not leave you." And here I may 
add that, in all my wanderings, he was my constant 
companion and firm and faithful friend. His his- 
tory, a wild and wonderful tale, I shall some day 
lay before the world : for Antonio was of regal 
stock, the son and lieutenant of Chichen Pat, one 
of ,the last and bravest of the chiefs of Yucatan, 
who lost his life, under the very walls of Merida, in 
the last unsuccessful rising of the aborigines ; and I 
blush to add that the fatal bullet, which slew the 
hope of the Indians, was sped from the rifle of an 
American mercenary ! 





jHE approach to the coast, near 
Bluefields, holds out no delusions. 
The shore is flat, and in all respects tame and un- 
interesting. A white line of sand, a green belt of 
trees, with no relief except here and there a soli- 
tary palm, and a few blue hills in the distance, are 
the only objects which are offered to the expectant 
eyes of the voyager. A nearer approach reveals a 
large lagoon, protected by a narrow belt of sand, 
covered, on the inner side, with a dense mass of 
mangrove trees ; and this is the harbor of Blue- 
fields. The entrance is narrow, but not difficult, at 
the foot of a high, rocky bluff, which completely 
commands the passage. 

The town, or rather the collection of huts called 
by that name, lies nearly nine miles from the en- 
trance. After much tacking, and backing, and 
filling, to avoid the innumerable banks and shal- 



TOWN OF BLUEFIELDS. 57 

lows in the lagoon, we finally arrived at the anchor- 
age. We had hardly got our anchor down, before 
we were boarded by a very pompous black man, 
dressed in a shirt of red check, pantaloons of white 
cotton cloth, and a glazed straw hat, with feet in- 
nocent of shoes, whose office nobody knew, further 
than that he was called " Admiral Eodney,'' and 
was an important functionary in the " Mosquito 
Kingdom." He bustled about, in an extraordinary 
way, but his final purpose seemed, narrowed down 
to getting a dram, and pocketing a couple of dol- 
lars, sHly slipped into his hand by the captain, just 
before he got over the side. When he had left, we 
were told that we could go on shore. 

Bluefields is an imperial city, the residence of the 
court of the Mosquito Kingdom, and therefore 
merits a particular description. As I have said, it 
is a collection of the rudest possible thatched huts. 
Among them are two or three framed buildings, 
one of which is the residence of a Mr. Bell, an 
Englishman, with whom, as I afterwards learned, 
resided that world-renowned monarch, " George 
William Clarence, King of all the Mosquitos." 
The site of the huts is picturesque, being upon 
comparatively high ground, at a point where a con- 
siderable stream from the interior enters the lagoon. 
There are two villages ; the principal one, or Blue- 
fields proper, which is much the largest, containing 
perhaps five hundred people ; and " Carlsruhe," a 
kind of dependency, so named by a colony of Prus- 
sians who had attempted to establish themselves here, 
3* 



58 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

but whose colony, at the time of my visit, had utterly 
failed. Out of more than a hundred of the poor 
people, who had been induced to come here, but 
three or four were left, existing in a state of great 
debility and distress. Most of their companions 
had died, but a few had escaped to the interior, 
where they bear convincing witness to the wicked- 
ness of attempting to found colonies, from north- 
ern climates, on low, pestiferous shores, under the 
tropics. 

Among the huts were many palm and plantain 
trees, with detached stalks of the papaya, laden 
with its large golden fruit. The shore was lined 
with canoes, piti^ans and dories, hollowed from the 
trunks of trees, all sharp, trim, and graceful in 
shape. The natives propel them, with great rapid- 
ity, by single broad-bladed paddles,- struck vertical- 
ly in the water, first on one side, and then on the 
other.* 

There was a large assemblage on the beach, when 
we landed, but I was amazed to find that, Tvith few 
exceptions, they were all unmitigated negros, or 
Sambos {i. e. mixed negro and Indian). I had 
heard of the Mosquito shore as occupied by the 
Mosquito Indians, but soon found that there were 

* The dory is usually hollowed from a solid piece of mahogany or 
cedar, and is from twenty-five to fifty feet in length. This kind of 
vessel is found so buoyant and safe, that persons, accustomed to the 
management of it, often fearlessly venture out to sea, in weather 
when it might be unsafe to trust to vessels of a larger kind. 

The pitpan is another variety of canoe, excelling the dory in 
point of speed. It is of the same material, differing only in being 
flat-bottomed. 



BLUEFIELDS. 59 

few^ if any, pure Indians on the entire coast. The 
miserable people who go by that name are, in real- 
ity, Sambos, having a considerable intermixture of 
trader blood from Jamaica, with which island the 
coast has its principal relations. The arrival of the 
traders on the shore is the signal for unrestrained 
debauchery, always preluded by the traders baptiz- 
ing, in a manner not remarkable for its delicacy or 
gravity, all children born since their last visit, in 
whom there is any decided indication of white blood. 
The names given on these occasions are as fantastic 
as the ceremony, and great liberties are taken with 
the cognomens of all notabilities, living and dead, 
from " Pompey^' down to " Wellington." 

Our first concern in Bluefields was to get a roof 
to shelter us, which we finally succeeded in doing, 
through the intervention of the captain of the 
" Bolivar."" That is to say, a dilapidated negro 
from Jamaica, hearing that I had just left that de- 
lectable island, claimed me as his countryman, and 
gave me a little deserted thatched hut, the walls of 
which were composed of a kind of wicker work of 
upright canes, interwoven with palm leaves. This 
structure had served him, in the days of his pros- 
perity, as a kitchen. It was not more than ten feet 
square, but would admit a hammock, hung diago- 
nally from one corner to the other. To this abbre- 
viated establishment, I moved my few damaged ef- 
fects, and in the course of the day, completely do- 
mesticated myself. Antonio exhibited the greatest 
aptness and industry in making our quarters com- 



60 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

fortable, and evinced an elasticity and cheerfulness 
of manner unknown before. In the evening, he re- 
sponded to the latent inquiry of my looks, by say- 
ing, that his heart had become lighter since he had 
reached the continent, and that his Lord gave prom- 
ise of better days. 

" Look V he exclaimed, as he held up his talis- 
man before my eyes. It emitted a pale light, 
which seemed to come from it in pulsations, or 
radiating circles. It may have been fancy, but if 
so, I am not prepared to say that all which we deem 
real is not a dream and a delusion ! 

My host was a man of more pretensions the a 
Captain Ponto, but otherwise very much of the 
same order of African architecture. From his 
cautious silence, on the subject of his arrival on the 
coast, I inferred that he had been brought out as a 
slave, some thirty-five or forty years ago, when several 
planters from Jamaica attempted to establish them- 
selves here. However that may have been, he 
now called himself a "merchant," and appeared 
proud of a little collection of " osnaburgs,'' a few 
red bandanna handkerchiefs, flanked by a dingy 
cask of what the Yankees would call "the rale 
critter," which occupied one corner of his house or 
rather hut. He brooded over these with unremit- 
ting care, although I believe I was his only cus- 
tomer, (to the extent of a few fish hooks), during my 
stay in Bluefields. He called himself Hodgson, 
(the name, as I afterwards learned, of one of the 
old British superintendents,) and based his hopes 



MOSQUITO KOYALTY. 61 

of family immortality upon a son, whom he respect- 
fully called Mister James Hodgson, and who was, 
he said, principal counselor to the king. This in- 
formation, communicated to me within two hours 
after my arrival, led me to believe myself in the 
line of favorable presentation at court. But I 
found out afterwards, that this promising scion of 
the house of Hodgson was '^ under a cloud," and had 
lost the sunshine of imperial favor, in consequence 
of having made some most indiscreet confessions, 
when taken a prisoner, a few years before, by the 
Nicaraguans. However, I was not destined to pine 
away my days in devising plans to obtain an intro- 
duction to his Mosquito Majesty. For, rising early 
on the morning subsequent to my arrival, I start- 
ed out to see the sights of Bluefields. Follow- 
ing a broad path, leading to a grove of cocoa-nut 
trees, which shadowed over the river, tall and trim, 
I met a white man, of thin and serious visage, who 
eyed me curiously for a moment, bowed slightly, 
and passed on in silence. The distant air of an 
Englishman, on meeting an American, is general- 
ly reciprocated by equally frigid formality. So I 
stared coldly, bowed stiffly, and also passed on. I 
smiled to think what a deal of affectation had been 
wasted on both sides, for it would have been un- 
natural if two white men were not glad to see each 
others' faces in a land of ebony like this. So I in- 
voluntarily turned half round, just in time to witness 
a similar evolution on the part of my thin friend. It 
was evident that his thoughts were but reflections 



62 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

of my own, and being the younger of the two, I re- 
traced my steps, and approached him with a laugh- 
ing "Good morning !" He responded to my saluta- 
tion with an equally pregnant " Grood morning," at 
the same time raising his hand to his ear, in token 
of being hard of hearing. Conversation opened, 
and I at once found I was in the presence of a man 
of superior education, large experience, and alto- 
gether out of place in the Mosquito metropolis. 
After a long walk, in which we passed a rough 
board structure, surmounted by a stumpy pole, 
supporting a small flag — a sort of hybrid between 
the Union Jack and the " Stars and Stripes" — 
called by Mr. Bell the " House of Justice," I ac- 
cepted his invitation to accompany him home to 
coffee. 

His house was a plain building of rough boards, 
with several small rooms, all opening into the prin- 
cipal apartment, in which I was invited to sit down. 
A sleepy-looking black girl, with an enormous shock 
of frizzled hair, was sweeping the floor, in a languid, 
mechanical way, calculated to superinduce yawning, 
even after a brisk morning walk. The partitions 
were hung with many prints, in which " Her Most 
Gracious Majesty" appeared in all the multiform 
glory of steel, lithograph, and chromotint. A gun 
or two, a table in the corner, supporting a confused 
collection of books and papers, with some ropes, 
boots, and iron grapnels beneath, a few chairs, a 
Yankee clock, and a table, completed the furniture 
and decoration of the room. I am thus particular 



MOSQUITO EOYALTY. 63 

in this inventory, for reasons which will afterward 
appear. 

At a word from Mr. Bell, the torpid black girl 
disappeared for a few moments, and then came 
back with some cups and a pot of coffee. I ob- 
served that there were three cups, and that my host 
filled them all, which I thought a little singular, 
since there were but two of us. A faint, momen- 
tary suspicion crossed my mind, that the female 
polypus stood in some such relation to my host as 
to warrant her in honoring us with her company. 
But, instead of doing so, she unceremoniously 
pushed open a door in the corner, and curtly ejacu- 
lated to some unseen occupant, " Get up \" There 
was a kind of querulous response, and directly a 
thumping and muttering, as of some person who 
regarded himself as unreasonably disturbed. Mean- 
while we had each finished our first cup of coffee, 
and were proceeding with a second, when the door 
in the corner opened, and a black boy, or what an 
American would be apt to call, a " young darkey," 
apparently nineteen or twenty years old, shuffled up 
to the table. He wore only a shirt, unbuttoned 
at the throat, and cotton pantaloons, scarcely but- 
toned at all. He nodded to my entertainer with a 
drawling " Mornin", sir V and sat down to the third 
cup of coffee. My host seemed to take no notice of 
him, and we continued our conversation. Soon 
after, the sloven youth got up, took his hat, and 
slowly walked down the path to the river, where I 
afterward saw him washing his face in the stream. 



64 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 

As I was about leaving, Mr. Bell kindly volun- 
teered his services to me, in any way they might be 
made available. I thanked him, and suggested 
that having no object to accomplish except to 
" scare up" adventures and seek out novel sights, I 
should be obliged to him for an introduction to the 
king, at some future day, after Antonio should have 
succeeded in rejuvenating my suit of ceremony, now 
rather rusty from saturation with salt water. He 
smiled faintly, and said, as for that matter, there 
need be no delay ; and, stepping to the door, 
shouted to the black youth by the river, and beck- 
oned to him to come up the bank. The youth put 
on his hat hurriedly, and obeyed. "Perhaps you 
are not aware that is the king ?" observed my 
host, with a contemptuous smile. I made no reply, 
as the youth was at hand. He took off his hat 
respectfully, but there was no introduction in the 
case, beyond the quiet observation, "Greorge, this 
gentleman has come to see you ; sit down !" 

I soon saw who was the real " king" in Bluefields. 
" George," I think, had also a notion of his own on 
the subject, but was kept in such strict subordina- 
tion that he never manifested it by words. I found 
him shy, but not without the elements of an ordi- 
nary English education, which he had received in 
England. He is nothing more or less than a negro, 
with hardly a perceptible trace of Indian blood, and 
would pass at the South for "a likely young fellow, 
worth twelve hundred dollars as a body-servant \" 

The second day after my arrival was Sunday, and 



GROG AND THE GOSPEL. 66 

in the forenoon, Mr. Bell read the service of the 
English Church, in the " House of Justice." There 
were perhaps a dozen persons present, among them 
the king, who was now dressed plainly and becom- 
ingly, and who conducted himself with entire pro- 
priety. I could not see that he was treated with 
any special consideration ; while Mr. Bell received 
marked deference. 

It is a curious fact that although the English 
have had relations, more or less intimate, with this 
shore, ever since the pirates made it their retreat, 
during the glorious days of the buccaneers, they 
have never introduced the Grospel. The religion of 
the "kingdom"" was declared by the late king, in 
his will, to be "the Established Church of Eng- 
land," but the Established Church has never taken 
steps to bring the natives within its aristocratic 
fold. Several dissenting missionaries have made 
attempts to settle on the coast, but as the British 
officers and agents never favored them, they have 
met with no success. Besides, the Sambos are 
strongly attached to heathenish rites, half African 
and half Indian, in which what they call ^'hig 
drunh" is not the least remarkable feature. Some 
years ago a missionary, named Pilley, arrived at 
Sandy Bay, for the purpose of reclaiming the "lost 
sheep." A house was found for him, and he com- 
menced preaching, and for a few Sundays enticed 
some of the leading Sambos to hear him, by giving 
them each a glass of grog. At length, one Sabbath 
afternoon, a considerable number of the natives 



66 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

attended to hear the stranger talk, and to receive 
the usual spiritual consolation. But the demijohn 
of the worthy minister had been exhausted. He 
nevertheless sought to compensate for the deficiency 
by a more vehement display of eloquence, and for a 
time flattered himself that he was producing a last- 
ing impression. His discourse, however, was sud- 
denly interrupted by one of the chiefs, who rose and 
indignantly exclaimed, "All preach — no grog — ^no 
good !" and with a responsive " No good V the 
audience followed him, as he stalked away, leaving 
the astonished preacher to finish his discourse to 
two or three Englishmen present. 

In Bluefields the natives are kept in more re- 
straint than elsewhere on the coast ; but even here 
it has been found impossible to suppress their tra- 
ditional practices, especially when connected with 
their superstitions. My venerable friend Hodgson, 
after " service,'" informed me that a funeral was to 
take place, at a small settlement, a few miles up 
the river, and volunteered to escort me thither in 
his pitpan, if Antonio would undertake to do the 
paddling. The suggestion was very acceptable, 
and after a very frugal dinner, on roast fish and 
boiled plantains, we set out. But we were not 
alone ; we found dozens of pitpans starting for the 
same destination, filled with men and women. It is 
impossible to imagine a more picturesque spectacle 
than these light and graceful boats, with occupants 
dressed in the brightest colors, darting over the 
placid waters of the river, now gay in the sun- 



GOING TO A FUNERAL. 



67 



light, and anon sobered in the shadows of the trees 
which studded the hanks. There was a keen 
strife among the rowers, who, amid shouts and 
screeches, in which both men and women joined, 
exerted themselves to the utmost. Even Antonio 

smiled at the scene, 
but it was half con- 
temptuously, for he 
maintained, in re- 
spect to these mon- 
grels, the reserve of 
conscious superiority. 




GOING TO THE FUIwERAL. 



Less than an hour brought us in view of a little 
collection of huts, grouped on the shore, under the 
shadow of a cluster of palm-trees, which, from a 
distance, presented a picture of entrancing beauty. 
A large group of natives had already collected on 
the shore, and, as we came near, we heard the 
monotonous beating of the native drum, or turn- 



68 THiE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

turn, relieved by an occasional low, deep blast on a 
large hollow pipe, which sounded more like the dis- 
tant bellowing of an ox than any thing else I ever 
heard. In the pauses, we distinguished suppressed 
wails, which continued for a minute perhaps, and 
were then followed by the monotonous drum and 
droning pipe. The descriptions of similar scenes in 
Central Africa, given to us by Clapperton and 
Mungo Park, recurred to me with wonderful vivid- 
ness, and left the impression that the ceremonies 
going on were rather African than American in 
their origin. 

On advancing to the huts, and the centre of the 
group, I found a small pitpan cut in half, in one 
part of which, wrajDped in cotton cloth, was the 
dead body of a man of middle age, much emaciat- 
ed, and horribly disfigured by what is called the 
hulpis, a species of syphilitic leprosy, which is al- 
most universal on the coast, and which, with the 
aid of rum, has already reduced the population to 
one half what it was twenty years ago. This dis- 
gusting disease is held in such terror by the Indians 
of the interior, that they have prohibited all sexual 
relations, between their people and the Sambos of 
the coast, under the penalty of death. 

Around the pitpan were stationed a number of 
women, with palm branches, to keep off the flies, 
which swarmed around the already festering corpse. 
Their frizzled hair started from their heads like the 
snakes on the brow of the fabled Gorgon, and they 
swayed their bodies to and fro, keeping a kind of 



A MOSQUITO BUEIAL. 71 

tread-mill step to the measure of the doleful turn- 
turn. With the exception of the men who beat the 
drum and blew the pipe, these women appeared to 
be the only persons at all interested in the pro- 
ceedings. The rest were standing in groups, or 
squatted at the roots of the palm-trees. I was be- 
ginning to get tired of the performance, when, with 
a suddenness which startled even the women around 
the corpse, four men, entirely naked excepting a 
cloth wrapped round their loins, and daubed over 
with variously-colored clays, rushed from the inte- 
rior of one of the huts, and hastily fastening a 
piece of rope to the half of the pitpan containing 
the corpse, dashed away towards the woods, drag- 
ging it after them, like a sledge. The women with 
the Gorgon heads, and the men with the drum and 
trumpet, followed them on the run, each keeping 
time on his respective instrument. The spectators 
all hurried after, in a confused mass, while a big 
negro, catching up the remaining half of the pit- 
pan, placed it on his head, and trotted behind the 
crowd. 

The men bearing the corpse entered the woods, 
and the mass of the spectators, jostling each other 
in the narrow path, kept up the same rapid pace. 
At the distance of perhaps two hundred yards, 
there was an open place, covered with low, dank, 
tangled underbush, still wet from the rain of the 
preceding night, which, although unmarked by any 
sign, I took to be the burial place. When I came 
up, the half of the pitpan containing the body had 



72 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

been put in a shallow trench. The other half was 
then inverted over it. The Gorgon-headed women 
threw in their palm-branches^ and the painted 
negroes rapidly filled in the earth. While this was 
going on, some men were collecting sticks and 
palm-branches, with which a little hut was hastily 
built over the grave. In this was placed an earthen 
vessel, filled with water. The turtle-spear of the 
dead man was stuck deep in the ground at his head, 
and a fantastic fellow, with an old musket, dis- 
charged three or four rounds over the spot. 

This done, the entire crowd started back in the 
same manner it had come. No sooner, however, 
did the painted men reach the village, than, seizing 
some heavy machetes, they commenced cutting down 
the palm-trees which stood around the hut that 
had been occupied by the dead Sambo. It was 
done silently, in the most hasty manner, and when 
finished, they ran down to the river, and plunged 
out of sight in the water — a kind of lustration or 
purifying rite. They remained in the water a few 
moments, then hurried back to the hut from which 
they had issued, and disappeared. 

This savage and apparently unmeaning ceremony 
was explained to me by Hodgson, as follows : 
Death is supposed by the Sambos to result from 
the influences of a demon, called Wulasha, who, 
ogre-like, feeds upon the bodies of the dead. To 
rescue the corpse from this fate, it is necessary to 
lull the demon to sleep, and then steal away the 
body and bury it, after which it is safe. To this 



MOSQUITO SUPERSTITIONS. 73 

end they bring in the aid of the drowsy drum and 
droning pipe, and the women go through a slow 
and soothing dance. Meanwhile, in the recesses of 
some hut, where they cannot be seen by Wulasha, 
a, certain number of men carefully disguise them- 
selves, so that they may not afterwards be recog- 
nized and tormented ; and when the demon is sup- 
posed to have been lulled to sleep, they seize the 
moment to bury the body. I could not ascertain 
any reason for cutting down the palm-trees, except 
that it had always been practiced by their ances- 
tors. As the palm-tree is of slow growth, it has re- 
sulted, from this custom, that they have nearly dis- 
appeared from some parts of the coast. I could 
not learn that it was the habit to plant a cocoa-nut 
tree upon the birth of a child, as in some parts of 
Africa, where the tree receives a common name with 
the infant, and the annual rings on its trunk mark 
his age. 

If the water disappears from the earthen vessel 
placed on the grave, — ^which, as the ware is porous, 
it seldom fails to do in the course of a few days, — ^it 
is taken as evidence that it has been consumed by 
the dead man, and that he has escaped the maw of 
WulasJia. This ascertained, preparations are at 
once made for what is called a Seekroe, or Feast of 
the Dead — an orgie which I afterwards witnessed 
higher up the coast, and which will be described in 
due course. 

The negroes brought originally from Jamaica, as 
also most of their descendants, hold these barbar- 

4 



74 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 

ous practices in contempt, and bury their dead, as 
they say, " English^gentleman fashion/' But while 
these practices are discountenanced and prohibited 
in Bluefields proper, they are, nevertheless, univer- 
sal elsewhere on the Mosquito Shore. 

I cannot omit mentioning here, that I paid a 
visit both to the establishment and the burial-place 
of the ill-fated Prussian colony. Many of the 
houses, now rotting down, had been brought out 
from Europe, and all around them were wheels of 
carts falling in pieces, harnesses dropping apart, 
and plows and instruments of cultivation rusting 
away, or slowly burying themselves in the earth. 
They told a sad story of ignorance on the part of 
the projectors of the establishment, and of the dis- 
appointments and sufferings of their victims. The 
folly of attempting to plant an agricultural colony, 
from the north of Europe, on low, murky, tropical 
shores, is inconceivable. Again and again the at- 
tempt has been made, on this coast, and as often it 
has terminated in disaster and death. It was tried 
by the French at Tehuantepec and Cape Gracias ; 
by the English at Vera Paz and Black Kiver ; and 
by the Belgians and Prussians at Santo Tomas and 
Bluefields. In no instance did these establishments 
survive a second year, nor in a single instance did a 
tenth of the poor colonists escape the grave. The 
Prussians at Bluefields suffered fearfully. At one 
time, within four months after their arrival, out of 
more than a hundred, there were not enough retain- 
ing their health to bury the dead, much less to 



AN ILL-FATED COLONY. 75 

attend to the sick. The natives, jealous of the 
strangers, would neither assist nor come near them, 
and absolutely refused to sell them the scanty food 
requisite for their subsistence. This feeling was 
rather encouraged than otherwise, by the traders on 
the coast, who desired to retain the monopoly of 
trade, as they had always done a preponderance of 
influence among the natives. They procured the 
revocation of the grant which had been made to 
the Messrs. Shepherd of San Juan, frord whom the ^ 
Prussians had purchased a doubtful title, and 
threatened the stricken strangers with forcible ex- 
pulsion. Death, however, soon relieved them from 
taking overt measures ; and, at the time of my 
visit, two or three haggard wretches, whose languid 
blue eyes and flaxen hair contrasted painfully with 
the blotched visages of the brutal Sambos, were all 
that remained of the unfortunate Prussian colony. 
The burying place was a small opening in the 
bush, where rank vines sweltered over the sunken 
graves, a spot reeking with miasmatic damps, from 
which I retreated with a shudder. I could wish no 
worse punishment to the originators of that fatal, 
not to say, criminal enterprise, than that they 
should stand there, as I stood, that Conscience 
might hiss in their ears, " Behold thy work V 




MADE many inquiries in Blue- 
fields, in order to decide on my fu- 
ture movements, to all of wMcli Mr. 
Bell gave me most intelligent an- 
swers. At first, I proposed to ascend the Bluefields 
river, which takes its rise in the mountainous district 
of Segovia in Nicaragua, and which is reported to be 
navigable, for canoes, to within a short distance of 
the great lakes of that State, from which it is only 
separated by a narrow range of mountains. Upon 
its banks dwell several tribes of pure Indians, the 
Cookras, now but few in number, and the Ramas, 
a large and docile tribe. Several of the latter visit- 
ed Bluefields while I was there, bringing down 
dories and pitpans rudely blocked out, which are 
afterwards finished by persons expert in that art. 
They generally speak Spanish, but I could not learn 
from them that their country was in any respect re- 



away! 77 

markable, or that it held out any prospect of com- 
pensation for a visit, unless it were an indefinite 
amount of hunger and hard work. So, although I 
had purchased a canoe, and made other prepara- 
tions for ascending the river, I determined to pro- 
ceed northward along the coast, and, embarking in 
some turtling vessel from Cape Gracias, proceed to 
San Juan, and penetrate into the interior by the 
river of the same name. 

This, I ascertained, was all the more easy to ac- 
complish, since the whole Mosquito shore is lined 
with lagoons, only separated from the sea by narrow 
strips of land, and so connected with each other as 
to afford an interior navigation, for canoes, from 
Bluefields to Gracias. So, procuring the additional 
services of a young Poyas or Paya Indian, who had 
been left from a trading schooner, I bade " His 
Mosquito Majesty" and Ms governor good-by, took 
an affectionate farewell of old Hodgson, and, with 
Antonio, sailed away to the northern extremity of 
the lagoon, having spent exactly a week in Blue- 
fields. 

It was a bright morning, and our little sail, filled 
with the fresh sea-breeze, carried us gayly through 
the water. Antonio carefully steered the boat, and 
my Poyer boy sat, like a bronze figure-head, in the 
bow, while I reclined in the centre, luxuriously 
smoking a cigar. The white herons flapped lazily 
around us, and flocks of screaming curlews whirled 
rapidly over our heads. I could scarcely compre- 
hend the novel reality of my position. The Kobin^ 



78 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

son Crusoe-ish feeling of mj youth came back in 
all of its freshness ; I had my own boat, and for 
companions a descendant of an aboriginal prince, 
the possessor of a mysterious talisman, devotedly 
attached to me, half friend, half protector, and a 
second strange Indian, from some unknown interior, 
silent as the unwilling genii whom the powerful 
spell of Solyman kept in obedience to the weird 
necromancers of the East. It was a strange posi- 
tion and fellowship for one who, scarcely three 
months before, had carefully cultivated the friendly 
interest of Mr. Sly, with sinister designs on the 
plethoric treasury of the Art Union, in New York ! 

I gave myself up to the delicious novelty, and 
that sense of absolute independence which only a 
complete separation from the moving world can in- 
spire, and j)assed the entire day in a trance of 
dreamy dehght. I subsequently passed many sim- 
ilar days, but this stands out in the long perspec- 
tive, as one of unalloyed happiness. " 'Twas worth 
ten years of common Hfe," and neither age nor suf- 
fering can efface its bright impress from the crowd- 
ed tablet of my memory ! 

It was about four o'clock in the afternoon, when 
we reached the northern extremity of the lagoon, 
at a place called the Haulover, from the circum- 
stance that, to avoid going outside in the open sea, 
it is customary for the natives to drag theii- canoes 
across the narrow neck of sand which separates 
Bluefields from the next northern or Pearl Kay 
Lagoon. Occasionally, after long and heavy winds 



LIFE ON THE LAGOONS. 79 

from the eastward, the waters are forced into the 
lagoons, so as to overflow the belt of land whicli 
divides them, when the navigation is uninter- 
rupted. 

In order to be able to renew our voyage early 
next morning, our few effects and stores were carried 
across the portage, over which our united strength 
was sufficient to drag the dory, without difficulty. 
All this was done with prompt alacrity on the part 
of Antonio and the Poyer boy, who would not allow 
me to exert myself in the slightest. The transit 
was effected in less than an hour, and then we pro- 
ceeded to make our camp for the night, on the 
beach. Our little sail, supported over the canoe by 
poles, answered the purpose of a tent. And as for 
food, without going fifty yards from our fire, I shot 
half a dozen curlews, which, when broiled, are cer- 
tainly a passable bird. Meanwhile, the Poyer boy, 
carefully wading in the lagoon, with a light spear, 
had struck several fish, of varieties known as snooh 
and grouper ; and Antonio had collected a bag full 
of oysters, of which there appeared to be vast 
banks, covered only by a foot or two of water. 
They were not pearl oysters, as might be inferred 
from the name of the lagoon, but similar to those 
found on our own shores, except smaller, and grow- 
ing in clusters of ten or a dozen each. Eaten with 
that relishing sauce, known among travelers as 
•^ hunger sauce," I found them something more 
than excellent, — they were delicious. 

While I opened oysters, by way of helping my- 



80 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

self to my princely first course, the Indians busied 
themselves with the fish and birds. I watched their 
proceedings with no little interest, and as their 
mode of baking fish has never been set forth in the 
cookery books, I give it for the benefit of the gas- 
tronomic world in general, which, I take it, is not 
above learning a good thing, even from a Poyer 
Indian boy. A hole having been dug in the sand, 
it was filled with dry branches, which were set on 
fire. In a few minutes the fire subsided in a bed of 
glowing coals. The largest of the fish, a grouper, 
weighing perhaps five pounds, had been cleaned 
and stuffed with pieces of the smaller fish, a few 
oysters, some sliced plantains, and some slij)s of the 
bark of the pimento or pepper-tree. Duly sprink- 
led with salt, it was carefully wrapped in the broad 
green leaves of the plantain, and the coals raked 
open, put in the centre of the glowing embers, with 
which it was rapidly covered. Half an hour after- 
ward, by which time I began to believe it had been 
reduced to ashes, the bed was raked open again and 
the fish taken out. The outer leaves of the wrapper 
were burned, but the inner folds were entire, and 
when they were unrolled, like the cerements of a 
mummy, they revealed the fish, " cooked to a 
charm," and preserving all the rich juices absorbed 
in the flesh, which would have been carried oft' by 
the heat, in the ordinary modes of cooking. I after- 
ward adopted the same process with nearly every 
variety of large game, and found it, like patent 
medicines, of " universal application." Commend 



NIGHT UNDER THE TllOPIOS ^ 

me to a young loaree " done brown'' in like manner, 
as a dish fit for a king. But of tliat anon. 

By and by the night came on, but not as it comes 
in our northern latitudes. Night, under the tropics, 
falls like a curtain. The sun goes down with a 
glow, intense, but brief. There are no soft and lin- 
gering twilight adieus, and stars lighting up one by 
one. They come, a laughing group, trooping over 
the skies, like bright-eyed children relieved from 
school. Keflected in the lagoon, they seemed to 
chase each other in amorous play, printing spark- 
ling kisses on each other's luminous lips. The low 
shores, lined with the heavy-foliaged mangroves, 
looked like a frame of massive, antique carving, 
around the vast mirror of the lagoon, across whose 
surface streamed a silvery shaft of light from the 
evening star, palpitating like a young bride, low in 
the horizon. Then there were whispered " voices 
of the night," the drowsy winds talking themselves 
to sleep among the trees, and the little ripples of the 
lagoon pattering with liquid feet along the sandy 
shore. The distant monotonous beatings of the 
sea, and an occasional sullen plunge of some ma- 
rine animal^ which served to open momentarily the 
eyelids drooping in slumbrous sympathy wi"th the 
scene — these were the elements which entranced 
me during the long, delicious hours of my first 
evening, alone with Nature, on the Mosquito 
Shore ! 

My dreams that night so blended themselves 
with the reality, that I could not now separate 



82 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

them if I would, and to this day I hardly know if 
I slept at all. So completely did my soul go out, 
and melt, and harmonize itself with the scene, that 
I began to comprehend the Oriental doctrine of 
emanations and absorptions, which teaches that, as 
the body of man springs from the earth, and after 
a brief space, mingles again with it ; so his soul, 
part of the Great Spirit of the Universe, flutters 
away like a dove from its nest, only to return, after 
a weary flight, to fold its wings and once more melt 
away in Nature's immortal heart, and uncreated and 
eternal essence. 

Before the dawn of day, the ever-watchful Anto- 
nio had prepared the indispensable cup of coffee, 
which is the tropical specific against the malignant 
night-damps ; and the first rays of the sun shot 
over the trees only to fall on our sail, bellying with 
the fresh and invigorating sea-breeze. We laid our 
course for the mouth of a river called Wawashaan 
(Jiwas or wass, in the dialect of the interior, signi- 
fying water), which enters the lagoon, about twenty 
miles to the northward of the Haulover. Here we 
were told there was a settlement, which I deter- 
mined to visit. As the day advanced, the breeze 
subsided, and we made slow progress. So we pad- 
dled to the shore of one of the numerous islands in 
the lagoon, to avoid the hot sun and await the 
freshening of the breeze in the afternoon. The 
island on which we landed appeared to be higher 
than any of the others, and was moreover rendered 
doubly attractive by a number of tall cocoa-nut 



CLIMBING AFTER COCOAS. 83 

palms, that clustered near the beach. We ran our 
boat ashore in a little cove, where there were traces 
of fires, and other indications that it was a favor- 
ite stopping-place with the natives. A narrow trail 
led inward to the palm-trees. Leaving the Poyer 
boy with the canoe, Antonio and myself followed 
the blind path, and soon came to an open space 
covered with plantain-trees, now much choked with 
bushes, but heavily laden with fruit. The palms, 
too, were clustering with nuts, of which we could 
not, of course, neglect to take in a supply. Near 
the trees we found the foundations of a house, after 
the European plan, and, not far from it, one or two 
rough grave-stones, on which inscriptions had been 
rudely traced ; but they were now too much oblit- 
erated to be read. I could only make out the figure 
of a cross on one of them, and the name " San 
Andres,'" which is an island off the coast, where it is 
probable the occupant of this lonely grave was born. 
To obtain the cocoa-nuts, which otherwise could 
only have been got at by cutting down and destroy- 
ing the trees, Antonio prepared to climb after 
them. He had brought a kind of sack of coarse 
netting, which he tied about his neck. He next 
cut a long section of one of the numerous tough 
vines which abound in the tropics, with which he 
commenced braiding a large hoop around one of the 
trees. After this was done, he slipped it over his 
head and down to his waist, gave it a few trials of 
strength, and then began his ascent, literally walk- 
ing up the tree. It was a curious feat, and worth a 



84 



THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 



description. Leaning back in this hoop, he planted 
his feet firmly against the trunk, clinging to which, 




first with 
then with 
worked up 
ing a step 



CLIMBING AFTER COCOAS. 



filled, tempered with a little 
a matar los animalicos, "to 



one hand, and 
the other, he 
the hoop, tak- 
with every up- 
ward movement. Nothing 
loth to exhibit his skill, in 
a minute he was sixty feet 
from the ground, leaning 
back securely in his hoop, 
and filling his sack with the 
nuts. This done, he swung 
his load over his shoulders, 
grasped the tree in his 
arms, let the hoop fall, and 
slid rapidly to the ground. 
The whole occupied less 
time than I have consumed 
in writing an ac- 
count of it. 

Loaded with nuts, 
plantains, and a 
species of anona 
called soursop, we 
returned to the 
boat, where the wa- 
ter, with which the 
green cocoa-nuts are 
Jamaica rum, para 
kill the animalcu- 



^•^y 



^^k 



THE MANGROVE. 



85 



1^/' as the Spanish say, 'made a cooling and re- 
freshing beverage. 

In the afternoon we again embarked, and before 
dark reached the mouth of the Wawashaan, which 
looked like a narrow arm of the lagoon, but which, 
we found, when we entered, had considerable cur- 
rent, rendering necessary a brisk use of our paddles. 



'^5t .% -^)^c- 







MANGROYE SWAMP 



ffrove trees. 



The banks near the lagoon, 
were low, and the ground back 
of them apparently swampy, 
and densely covered with man- 
This tree is universal on the Mosquito 
coast, lining the shores of the lagoons and rivers, 
as high up as the salt water reaches. It is unlike 
any other tree in the world. Peculiar to lands over- 
flowed by the tides, its trunk starts at a height of 
from four to eight feet from the ground, supported 



86 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 

by a radiating series of sfnootli, reddish-brown roots, 
for all the world like the prongs of an inverted can- 
delabrum. These roots interlock with each other in 
such a manner that it is utterly impossible to pene- 
trate between them, except by laboriously cutting 
one^s way. And even then an active man would 
hardly be able to advance twenty feet in a day. The 
trunk is generally tall and straight, the branches 
numerous, but not long, and the leaves large and 
thick ; on the upper surface of a dark, glistening, 
unfading green, while below, of the downy, whitish 
tint of the poplar-leaf. Lining the shore in dense 
masses, the play of light on the leaves, as they are 
turned upward by the wind, has the glad, billowy 
effect of a field of waving grain. The timber of the 
mangrove is sodden and heavy, and of no great 
utility ; but its bark is astringent, and excellent for 
tanning. Its manner of propagation is remarkable. 
The seed consists of a long bean-like stem, about 
the length and shape of a dipped candle, but thin- 
ner. It hangs from the upper limbs in thousands, 
and, when perfect, drops, point downward, erect in 
the mud, where it speedily takes root, and shoots 
up to tangle still more the already tangled man- 
grove-swamp. Myriads of small oysters, called the 
mangrove-oysters, chng to the roots, among which 
active little crabs find shelter from the j)ursuit of 
their hereditary enemies, the long-legged and 
sharp-billed cranes, who have a prodigious hank- 
ering after tender and infantile shell-fish. 

The Mosquito settlement is some miles up the 



SOLDIER-CRABS. 87 

river, and we were unable to reach it before dark ; so, 
on arriving at a spot where the ground became higher, 
and an open space appeared on the bank, we came 
to a halt for the night. We had this time no fish 
for supper, but, instead, a couple of quams, a spe- 
cies of small turkey, which is not a handsome bird, 
but, nevertheless, delicate food. Many of these 
flew down to the shore, as night came on, selecting 
the tops of the highest, overhanging trees for their 
roosting-places, and offering fine marks for my 
faithful double-barreled gun. 

The mosquitoes proving rather troublesome at 
the edge of the water, I abandoned the canoe, and 
spreading my blanket on the most elevated portion 
of the bank, near the fire, was soon asleep. Before 
midnight, however, I was roused by the sensation 
of innumerable objects, with sharp claws and cold 
bodies, crawling over me. I leaped up in alarm, 
and hastily shook off the invaders. I heard a crack- 
ling, rustling noise, as of rain on dry leaves, all 
around me, and by the dim light I saw that the 
ground was alive with crawling things, moving in 
an unbroken column toward the river. I felt them 
in the pockets of my coat, and hanging to my 
skirts. My nocturnal interview with the turtles at 
" El Roncador" recurred to me, and Coleridge's 
ghastly lines — 

" The very sea did rot — 



Oh Christ, that this should be I — 
And slimy things did crawl with legs 
Upon the slimy sea!" 



88 THE MOBQUITO SHORE. 

Half fearing that it might be my own disordered 
fancy, I shouted to Antonio, who, quick as light, was 
at my side. He stirred up the fire, and laughed 
outright ! We had been invaded by an army of 
soldier-crabs, moving down from the high back- 
grounds, Antonio had selected his bed for the 
night nearest the river, and the fire, dividing the 
host, had protected him, while it had turned a double 
column upon me. I could not myself help laughing 
at the incident, which certainly had the quality 
of novelty. I watched the moving legion for an 
hour, but there was no perceptible decrease in the 
numbers. So I laid down again by the side of An- 
tonio, and slept quietly until morning, when there 
were no more crabs to be seen, nor a trace of them, 
except that the ground had been minutely punctured 
all over, by their sharp, multitudinous claws. 

It was rather late when we started up the river. 
We had not proceeded far before we came to an 
open space, where there were some rude huts, with 
canoes drawn up on the bank, in front. A few 
men, nearly naked, shouted at us as we passed, in- 
quiring, in broken English, what we had to sell, 
evidently thinking that the white man could have 
no purpose there unless to trade'. We passed 
other huts at intervals, which, however, had no 
signs of cultivation around them, except a few 
palm and plantain-trees, and an occasional small 
patch of yucas. The mangroves had now disap- 
peared, and the banks began to look inviting, cov- 
ered, as they were, with large trees, including the 



RIVER WAWASHAAN. 89 

caoha, or mahogany, and the gigantic ceiba, all 
loaded down with vines. Thousands of parrots 
passed over, with their peculiar short, heavy flut- 
ter, and loud, querulous note. In the early morn- 
ing, and toward night, they keep up the most ve- 
hement chattering, all talking and none listening, 
after the manner of a Woman's Eights Convention. 
There were also gaudy macaws, which floated past 
like fragmeats of a rainbow. In common with the 
parrots, they always go in pairs, and when one is 
found alone, he is always silent and sad, and acts 
as if he were a lone widower, and meditated sui- 
cide. 

On the occasional sandy reaches, we saw groups 
of the Roseate Spoonbills, with theu* splendid plum- 
age. The whole body is rose-col- 
ored ; but the wings, toward the 
shoulders, and the feathers around 
the base of the neck, are of a 
bright scarlet, deepening to blood- 
red. But they form no exception 
to the law of compensations — in 
mechanics, called equilibrium, and ^ 
in mathematics equations, since, "™^ spoonbill." 
while beautiful in plumage, they are sinfully ugly 
in shape. And I could not help fancpng, when I 
saw them standing silent and melancholy on snags, 
contemplating themselves in the water, that, as with 
some other kinds of birds, their brilliant colors gave 
them no joy, coupled with so serious a drawback in 
form. I shot several, from which the Poyer boy 




90 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

selected the most beantiful feathers, which he 
afterward interwove with others from the macaw, 
parrot, and egret, in a gorgeous head-dress, as a 
present to me. 

Toward noon we came to a cleared space, much 
the largest I had seen on the coast ; and, as we ap- 
proached nearer, I saw a house of European con- 
struction, and a large field of sugar-cane. In strik- 
ing contrast with these evidences of industry and 
civilization, a Sambo or Mosquito village, made up 
of squalid huts, half buried in the forest, filled out 
the foreground. I recognized it as the village of 
Wasswatla (literally Watertown), the place of our 
destination. It, nevertheless, looked so uninviting 
and miserable, that had I not been attracted by 
the Christian establishment in the distance, I 
should have returned incontinently to the lagoon. 

My unfavorable impressions were heightened on a 
nearer approach. As we pushed up our canoe to 
the shore, among a great variety of dories and 
other boats, the population of the village, including 
a large number of dogs of low degree, swarmed 
down to survey us. The juveniles were utterly 
naked, and most of the adults of both sexes had 
nothing more than a strip of a species of cloth, 
made of the inner bark of the %de or India-rubber 
tree (resembling the tappa of the Society Island- 
ers), wrapped around their loins. There was scarce- 
ly one who was not disfigured by the blotches of 
the hulpis, and the hair of each stood out in fright- 
ful frizzles, " like the quills on the fretful porcu- 



A ROYAL PASSPORT. 91 

pine." Most of the men carried a short spear, 
pointed with a common triangular file, carefully 
sharpened by rubbing on the stones, which, as I 
afterward learned, is used for striking turtle. 

Forbidding as was the appearance of the assem- 
blage, none of its individuals evinced hostility, and 
when I jumped ashore, and saluted them with 
" Grood morning, "" they all responded, " Morning 
sir r brought out with an indescribable African 
drawl. Two or three of the number volunteered to 
help Antonio draw up our boat, while I gave vari- 
ous orders, in default of knowing what else to do. 
Luckily, it occurred to me to produce a document, 
or pass, with which Mr. Bell had kindly furnished 
me before leaving Bluefields, and which all seemed 
to recognize, pointing to it respectfully, and ejacu- 
lating, " King paper ! King paper !" It was fre- 
quently called afterward, " the paper that talks." 
This precious document, well engrossed on a sheet 
of fools-cap, with a broad seal at the bottom, ran 
as follows : — 

'' iiHosqttit0 liinigbom. 

" George William Clarence, by the G-race of 
God, King of the Mosquito Territory, to our trusty 
and well-beloved officers and subjects, Greeting ! 
We, by these presents, do give pass and license to 
Samuel A. Bard Esquire, to go freely through our 
kingdom, and to dwell therein ; and do furthermore 
exhort and command our well-beloved officers and 
subjects aforesaid, to give aid and hospitality to the 



92 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

aforesaid Samuel A. Bard Esquire, wliom we hold 
of high, esteem and consideration. Griven at Blue- 
fields, this — — day of , in this the tenth year 

of our reign." 

(Signed,) u p 

The ejaculations of " King paper 1 King paper t'^ 
were followed by loud shouts of " Capt'n ! Cap- 
t'n !" while two or three tall fellows ran off in the 
direction of the huts. I was a. little puzzled by the 
movement, but not long left in doubt as to its ob- 
ject, for, in a few moments, a figure approached, 
creating hardly less sensation among the people, 
than he would have done among the " boys''' in the 
Bowery. I at once recognized him as the " Cap- 
t'n," whose title had been so vigorously invoked. 
He was, to start with, far from being a fine-looking 
darkey ; but all natural deficiencies were more than 
made up by his dress. He had on a most venerable 
cocked hat, in which was stuck a long, drooping, 
red plume, that had lost half of its feathers, look- 
ing like the plumes of some rake of a rooster, re- 
turning, crestfallen and bedraggled, from an unsuc- 
cessful attempt on some powerful neighbor's harem. 
His coat was that of a post-captain in the British 
navy, and his pantaloons were of blue cloth, with a 
rusty gold stripe running down each side. They were, 
furthermore, much too short at both ends, leaving an 
unseemly projection of ankle, as well as abroad strip 




CAPTAIN DRUMMER. 



CAPTAIN DRUBIMEK. 95 

of dark skin between the waistband and the coat. 
And when I say that the captain wore no shirt, was 
rather fat, and his pantaloons deficient in buttons 
wherewith to keep it appropriately closed in front, 
the active fancy of the reader may be able to com- 
plete the picture. He bore, moreover, a huge cav- 
alry sword, which looked all the more formidable 
from being bent in several places and very rusty. 
He came forward with deliberation and gravity, and 
I advanced to meet him, " king paper" in hand. 

When I had got near him, he adjusted himself in 
position, and compressed his lips, with an affecta- 
tion of severe dignity. Hardly able to restrain 
laughing outright, I took off my hat, and saluted 
him with a profound bow, and " Good morning, 
Captain !" He pulled off his hat in return, and 
undertook a bow, but the strain was too great on 
the sole remaining button of his waistband ; it gave 
way, and, to borrow a modest nautical phrase, the 
nether garment " came down on the run !" The 
captain, however, no way disconcerted, gathered it 
up with both hands, and held it in place, while I 
read the " paper that talked." 

The upshot of the ceremony was, that I was wel- 
comed to Wasswatla, and taken to a large vacant 
hut, which was called the " king's house," and dedi- 
cated to the Genius of Hospitality. That is to say, 
the stranger or trader may take up his abode there, 
provided he can dislodge the pigs and chickens, who 
have an obstinate notion of their own on the sub- 
ject of the proprietorship, and can never be induced 



96 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

to surrender their prescriptive rights. The " king's 
house" was a simple shed, the ground within trod- 
den into mire by the pigs, and the thatched roof 
above half blown away by the wind. But, even 
thus uninviting, it was better than any of the other 
and drier huts, for the fleas, at least, had been suf- 
focated in the mud. Before night, Antonio had 
covered the floor, a foot deep, with cahoon leaves, 
and, with the aid of the Poyer boy and one or two 
natives, seduced thereunto by what they universally 
call " grog," had restored the roof, and built up a 
barricade of poles against the pigs. These were 
not numerous, but hungry and vicious ; and, finding 
the barricade too strong to be rooted down, they 
tried the dodge of the Jews at Jericho, and of Cap- 
tain Crockett with the bear, and undertook to squeal 
it down ! They neither ate nor slept, those pigs, I 
verily believe, during the period of my stay ; but 
kept up an incessant squeal, occasionally relieving 
their tempers by a spiteful drive at the poles. Be- 
tween them and pestilent insects of various kinds, 
my slumbers were none of the sweetest, and I reg- 
istered a solemn vow that this should be my last 
trial of Mosquito hospitality. 

In the afternoon I had a visit from the captain, 
who told me that his name was "Lord Nelson Drum- 
mer," and that his father had been "Governor" in 
the section around Pearl-Cay Lagoon. He had laid 
aside his official suit, and with simple breeches of 
white cotton cloth, and a straw hat, afibrded a 
favorable contrast to his appearance in the morn- 



A DESERTED PLANTATION. 97 

ing. He spoke English — quite as well as the ne- 
groes of Jamaica, and generally made himself un- 
derstood. From him I learned that the house, 
which I had seen in the clearings, had been built, 
many years before, by a French Creole from one of 
the islands of the Antilles, who at one time had 
there a large plantation of coifee, cotton, and sugar- 
cane, from the last of which he distilled much rum. 
Drummer was animated on the subject of the rum, 
of which there had been, as he said, ^^much 
plenty !" But the Frenchmen had died, and al- 
though his family kept up the establishment for a 
little while, they were obliged to abandon it in the 
end. The negroes who had been brought out, soon 
caught the infection of the coast, and, slavery hav- 
ing been prohibited (by the British Superintendent 
at Belize !), became idle, drunken, and worthless. 
Some of them still lingered around Wasswatla, 
gathering for sale to the occasional trader, a few 
pounds of coffee from the trees on the plantation, 
which, in spite of years of utter neglect, still bore 
fruit. The abandoned cane-fields furnished a sup- 
ply of canes, at which all the inhabitants of Wass- 
watla, old and young, were constantly gnawing. 
In fact, this appeared to be their principal occu- 
pation. I subsequently visited the abandoned es- 
tate. It was overgrown with vines and bushes, 
among which the orange, lime, and coffee-trees 
struggled for existence. The house was tumbling 
into ruin, and the boilers in which the sugar had 
been made, were full of stagnating water. I re- 

5 



98 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

turned to the squalid village, having learned an- 
other philosophy in the science of philanthropy ; 
and with a diminishing inclination to tolerate the 
common cant about " universal brotherhood \" 

The soil on the Wawashaan is rich and product- 
ive. It seems well adapted to cotton and sugar. 
The climate is hot and humid, and I saw many of 
the natives much reduced, and suffering greatly 
from fevers, which, if not violent, appear, neverthe- 
less, to be persistent, and exceedingly debilitating. 
The natural products are numerous and valuable. 
I observed many indian-rubber trees, and, for the 
first time, the vanilla. It is produced on a vine, 
which climbs to the tops of the loftiest trees. Its 
leaves somewhat resemble those of the grape ; the 
flowers are red and yellow, and when they fall off 
are succeeded by the pods, which grow in clusters, 
like our ordinary beans. Green at first, they change 
to yellow, and finally to a dark brown. To be pre- 
served, they are gathered when yellow, and put in 
heaps, for a few days, to ferment. They are after- 
ward placed in the sun to dry, flattened by the 
hand, and carefully rubbed with cocoa-nut oil, and 
then packed in dry plantain-leaves, so as to confine 
their powerful aromatic odor. The vanilla might 
be made a considerable article of trade on the 
coast ; but, at present, only a few dozen packages 
are exported. 

Lord Nelson, as I invariably called the captain, 
domesticated himself with me from the first day, 
and ate and drank with me — " especially the lat- 



A MOSQUITO DANCE. 99 

ter." And I soon found out that there was a direct 
and intimate relation, between his degree of thirst 
and his protestations of attachment. He even 
hinted his intention to get up a mushla feast for 
me, but I would not agree to stay for a sufficient 
length of time. 

Finally, however, a grand fishing expedition to 
the lagoon was determined on, and I was surprised 
to see with how much alacrity the proposition wa-s 
taken up. The day previous to starting was de- 
voted to sharpening spears, cleaning the boats, and 
making paddles, in all of which operations the 
women worked indiscriminately with the men. 
Plantains were gathered, and, as it seemed to me, 
no end of sugar-canes from the deserted plantation. 
In the evening, which happened to prove clear, the 
big drum was got out, fires lighted, and there was a 
dance, as Lord Nelson said, "Mosquito fashion." 
My part of the performance consisted in keeping up 
the spirit of the drummers, by pouring spirits down, 
which service was responded to by a vehemence of 
pounding that would have done credit to a militia 
training. I was surprised to find how much skill 
the performers had attained ; but afterward dis- 
covered that the drum is the favorite instrument on 
the coast, and is called in requisition on all occa- 
sions of festivity or ceremony. The dance was un- 
couth, without the merit of being grotesque ; and 
long before it was finished, the performers, of both 
sexes, had thrown aside their tournous^ and aban- 
doned every shadow of decency in their actions. 



100 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

Lord Nelson began to grow torpid early in the 
evening, and, before I left tbe scene, had been 
carried off dead drunk. Next morning he looked 
rather downcast, and complained that the rum 
^^ had spoiled his head." 

It was quite late when our flotilla got under 
way, with a large dory, carrying the big drum, 
leading the van. There were some twenty-odd 
boats, containing nearly the entire population of 
the village. This number was increased from the 
huts lower down, the occupants of which hailed us 
with loud shouts, and hastened after us with their 
canoes. We went down the river with the current 
very rapidly, the men paddling in the maddest way, 
and shouting to each other at the top of their 
voices. Occasionally the boats got foul, when the 
rivals used the flat of their paddles over each 
other's heads without scruple. I was considerably 
in the rear, and. from the sound of the blows, im- 
agined that every skull had been crushed ; but next 
moment their owners were paddling and shouting 
as if nothing had happened. From that day, I had 
a morbid curiosity to get a Mosquito skull ! 

We all encamped at night, on the sandy beach 
of a large island, in the centre of the lagoon. The 
reader may be sure that I made my own camp at a 
respectable distance from the rest of the party, 
where I had a quiet supper, patronized, as usual, 
by Captain Drummer. As soon as it became dark, 
the preparations for fishing commenced. The 
women were left on the beach, and three men ap- 



FIRE-LIGHT FISHING. 101 

portioned to each boat. One was detailed to pad- 
dle, another to hold the torch, and the third, and 
most skillful, acted as striker or spearsman. The 
torches were made of splinters of the fat yellow 
pine, which abounds in the interior. The spears, I 
observed, were of two kinds ; one firmly fixed by a 
shank at the end of a long light pole, called sin- 
nocJc, which is not allowed to escape the hand of 
the striker. The other, called tuaisJco-dusa, is 
much shorter. The staff is hollow, and the iron 
spear-head, or harpoon, is fastened to a line which 
passes through rings by the side of the shaft, and 
is wound to a piece of light-wood, designed to act 
as a float. When thrown, the head remains in the 
fish, while the line unwinds, and the float rises to 
the surface, to be seized again by the fisherman, 
who then hauls in his fish at his leisure. When the 
fish is large and active, the chase after the float 
becomes animated, and takes the character of what 
fishermen call " sport." 

As I have said, no sooner was it dark than the 
boats pushed off, in different directions, on the la- 
goon. My Poyer boy had borrowed a tvaisho- 
dusa, and with him to strike, and Antonio to 
paddle, I took a torch, and also glided out on the 
water. My torch was tied to a pole, which I held 
over the bow. Antonio paddled slowly, while the 
Poyer boy, entirely naked (for the strikers often go 
overboard after their own spears), stood in the bow, 
with his spear poised in his right hand, eagerly in- 
clining forward, and motionless as a statue. He 



102 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

was perfect in form, and his bronze limbs, just 
tense enough to display without distorting the 
muscles, were brought in clear outline against the 
darkness by the light of the torch — ^revealing a fig- 
ure and pose that would shame the highest achieve- 
ments of the sculptor. It was so admirable that I 
quite forgot the fisher in the artist, when, rapid as 
light, the arm of the Poyer boy fell, and the spear 
entered the water eight or nine feet ahead of the 
boat. The motion was so sudden, that it nearly 
startled me overboard. At first, I thought he had 
missed his mark, but I soon saw the white float, 
now dipping under the water, now jerked this way, 
now that, evincing clearly that the spearsman had 
been true in his aim. A few strokes of Antonio's 
paddle brought the float within reach of the striker, 
who began, in sporting phrase, to " land" the fish. 
It made a desperate struggle, and, for awhile, it 
was what is called a ^^ tight pull " between the 
boy and the fish. Nevertheless, he was finally got 
in, and proved to be what is called a June, or Jew- 
fish {Coracinus), by the English, and Falpa by the 
natives. In point of delicacy and richness of flavor, 
this fish is unequaled by any other found in these 
seas. The one which we obtained weighed not far 
from eighty pounds. Some of them have been 
known to weigh two or three hundred pounds. Our 
prize made a great disturbance in our little canoe, 
to which Antonio put a stop by disemboweling him 
on the spot, after which we resumed our sport. 
We were successful in obtaining a number of rock- 



NIGHT FISHING. 103 

fish, and several sikoko, or sheep's-heads. Ambi- 
tious to try my skill, I took the Poyer boy's place 
for awhile. I was astonished to find how perfectly 
clear the water proved to be, under the light of the 
torch. The bottom, which, in the broad daylight, 
had been utterly invisible, now revealed all of its 
mysteries, its shells, and plants, and stones, with 
wonderful distinctness. I observed also that the 
fish seemed to be attracted by the light, and, in- 
stead of darting away, rose toward the surface and 
approached the boat. I allowed several opportuni- 
ties of throwing the spear to slip. Finally, a fine 
sheep's-head rose just in front of me ; I aimed my 
spear, and threw it with such an excess of force as 
literally to drive the dory from beneath my feet, 
precipitating myself in the water, and knocking 
down and extinguishing the torch in my ungraceful 
tumble. The spear was recovered, and I felt rather 
disappointed to find that it was innocent of a fish. 
Antonio suggested that he had broken loose, which 
was kind of him, but it would n't do. As we were 
without light, and, moreover, had as many fish as 
we could possibly dispose of, we paddled ashore. 

Up to this time, I had been so much absorbed 
with our own sport, that I had not noticed the other 
fishers. It was a strange scene. Each torch glow- 
ed at the apex of a trembling pyramid of red light, 
which, as the boats could not be seen, seemed to be 
inspired with life. Some moved on stately and slow, 
while others, where the boats were rapidly whirled 
in pursuit of the stricken fish, seemed to be chasing 



104 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

each other in fiery glee. Every successful throw 
was hailed with vehement shouts, heightened by 
loud blows made by strildng the flat of the paddle 
on the surface of the water. All along the shore, 
the women had lighted fires whereat to dry the fish, 
which, in this climate, can not be kept long without 
spoiling. The light from these fires caught on the 
heavy foliage of the shore, and revealing the groups 
of half-naked women and children, helped to make 
up a scene which it is difficult to paint in words, 
but which can never be forgotten by one who has 
witnessed it. 

It was past midnight before the boats all returned 
to the shore ; and then commenced the drying of 
the fish. Over all the fires, just out of reach of the 
flames, were raised frame-works of canes, like grid- 
irons, on which the fish, thinly sliced lengthwise, 
and rubbed with salt, were laid. They were repeat- 
edly turned, so that, with the salt, smoke and heat, 
they were so far cured in the morning, as to require 
no further attention than a day or two of exposure 
to the sun. Our Jew-fish was thus prepared, and 
afterward stood us in good stead, much resembling 
smoked salmon, but less salt. While Antonio super- 
intended this operation, I cooked the head and 
shoulders of the big fish in the sand, after the man- 
ner I have already described, and achieved a signal 
success, inasmuch as the dish was well seasoned with 
" hunger sauce." 



,\^^^u\. 





around them. 



FF the mouth of Pearl-Cay Lagoon 
are numerous cays, which, in fact, 
give their name to the lagoon. They 
are celebrated for the number and 
variety of turtles found on and 
I was so much delighted with our 
torch-light fishing, that I became eager to witness 
the sj)ort of turtle-hunting, which is regarded by the 
Mosquitos as their noblest art, and in which they 
have acquired proverbial expertness. Drummer 
required only a little persuasion and a taste of rum, 
to undertake an expedition to the cays. As this 
involved going out in the open sea, he selected four 
of the largest pitpans, to each of which he assigned 
the requisite number of able-bodied and expert men. 
The women and remaining men were left to continue 
their fishing in the lagoon. My canoe was much 
too small to venture off, and accordingly was left in 

5* 



106 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

cliarge of the Poyer boy, who^ armed with my 
double-barreled gun^ felt himself a host. With 
Antonio, I was given a place in the largest pitpan, 
commanded by Harris, Captain Drummer's " quar- 
ter-master/' who was much the finest specimen of 
physical beauty that I had seen among the Sambos. 

I was quite concerned on finding how little pro- 
visions were taken in the boats, since bad weather 
often keeps the fishermen out for two or three 
weeks. But Drummer insisted that we should find 
plenty to eat, and we embarked. We caught the 
land-breeze as soon as we got from under the^lee of 
the shore, and drove rapidly on our course. Although 
the sea was comparatively smooth, yet the boats all 
carried such an amount of sail as to keep me in a 
state of constant nervousness. One would scarcely 
believe that the Mosquito men venture out in their 
pitpans, in the roughest weather with impunity, 
riding the waves like sea-gulls. If upset, they right 
their boats in a moment, and with their broad pad- 
dle-blades clear them of water in an incredibly short 
space of time. 

We went, literally, with the wind ; and in four 
hours after leaving the shore, were among the cays. 
These are very numerous, surrounded by reefs, 
through which wind intricate channels, all well 
known to the fishers. Some of the cays are mere 
heaps of sand, and half-disintegrated coral-rock, 
others are larger, and a few have bushes, and an 
occasional palm-tree upon them, much resembling 
" El Roncador." It was on one of the latter, where 



TAKING TURTLE. 107 

there were the ruins of a rude hut, and a place 
scooped in the sand, containing brackish water, 
that we landed, and made our encampment. No 
sooner was this done than Harris started out with 
his boat after turtle, leaving the rest to repair the 
hut, and arrange matters for the night. Of course 
I accompanied Harris, 

The apparatus for striking the turtle is exceed- 
ingly simple, corresponding exactly with the waislco- 
dusa, which I have described, except that instead 
of being barbed, the point is an ordinary triangular 
file, ground exceedingly sharp. This, it has been 
found, is the only thing which will pierce the thick 
armor of the turtle ; and, moreover, it makes so 
small a hole, that it seldom kills the green turtle, 
and very slightly injures the scales of the hawkbill 
variety, which furnishes the shell of commerce. 

Harris stood in the bow of the pitpan, keeping a 
sharp look out, holding his spear in his right 
hand, with his left hand behind him, where it an- 
swered the purpose of a telegraph to the two men 
who paddled. They kept their eyes fixed on the 
signal, and regulated their strokes, and the course 
and speed of the boat, accordingly. Not a word 
was said, as it is supposed that the turtle is sharp 
of hearing. In this manner we paddled among 
the cays for half an hour, when, on a slight motion 
of Harris' hand, the men altered their course a lit- 
tle, and worked their paddles so slowly and quietly 
as scarcely to cause a ripple. I peered ahead, but 
saw only what I supposed was a rock, projecting 



108 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

above the water. It was, nevertheless, a turtle, 
floating lazily on the surface, as turtles are wont to 
do. Notwithstanding the caution of our approach, 
he either heard us, or caught sight of the boat, and 
sank while we were yet fifty yards distant. There 
was a quick motion of Harris' manual telegraph, 
and the men began to paddle with the utmost ra- 
pidity, striking their paddles deep in the water. In 
an instant the boat had darted over the spot where 
the turtle had disappeared, and I caught a hurried 
glimpse of him, making his way with a speed which 
quite upset my notions of the ability of turtles in 
that line, predicated upon their unwieldiness on 
land. He literally seemed to slide through the 
water. 

And now commenced a novel and exciting chase. 
Harris had his eyes on the turtle, and the men 
theirs on Harris' telegraphic hand. Now we darted 
this way, then that ; slow one moment, rapid the 
next, and anon stock still. The water was not so 
deep as to permit our scaly friend to get entirely 
out of reach of Harris' j)racticed eye, although to 
me the bottom appeared to be a hopeless maze. As 
the turtle must rise to the surface sooner or later 
to breathe, the object of the pursuer is to keep near 
enough to transfix him when he apjDcars. Finally, 
after half an hour of dodging about, the boat was 
stopped with a jerk, and down darted the spear. 
As the whole of the shaft did not go under, I saw it 
had not failed of its object. A moment more, and 
Harris had hold of the line. After a few struggles 



STRIKING TURTLE. 



109 



and spasmodic attempts to get away, his spirit gave 
in, and the tired turtle tamely allowed himself to 
be conducted to the shore. A few sharp strokes 
disengaged the file, and he was turned over on his 
back on the sand, the very picture of utter helpless- 
ness, to await our return. I have a fancy that the 
expression of a turtle's head, and half-closed eyes, 
under such circumstances, is the superlative of 
saintly resignation ; to which a few depreciatory 
movements of his flippers come in as a sanctimoni- 
ous accessory, like the upraised palms of a well-fed 
parson. 




iT HIKING TURTIiS. 



This " specimen,^' as the naturalists would say, 
proved to be of the smaller, or hawk-bill variety, 
the flesh of which is inferior to that of the green 
turtle, although hawk-bills are most valuable on 
account of their shells. So we paddled off again, 



110 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 

keeping close to the cajs and reefs, where the water 
is shallow. It was nearly dark before Harris got a 
chance at another turtle, which he struck on the 
bottom, at least eight feet below the surface. 
This was of the green variety ; he was lifted in the 
boat, and his head unceremoniously chopped off, 
lest he should take a spiteful nip at the hams of 
the paddlers. 

We wound our way back to the rendezvous, pick- 
ing up our hawk-bill, who was that night unmer- 
cifully put through the cruel process, which I have 
aheady had occasion to describe, for separating the 
scales from the shell, after which he was permitted 
to take himself off. I may here mention, that be- 
sides the two varieties of turtle which I have 
named, there is another and larger kind, called 
the loggerhead turtle (Testiido Carettd), which re- 
sembles the green turtle, but is distinguished by 
the superior size of the head, greater breadth of 
shell, and by its deeper and more variegated colors. 
It grows to be of great size, sometimes reaching one 
thousand or twelve hundred pounds ; but its flesh 
is rank and coarse, and the laminae of its shell too 
thin for use. It, nevertheless, supplies a good oil, 
proper for a variety of purposes. 

That evening, we had turtle steaks, and turtle eggs, 
roasted turtle flippers, and callipash and calUpee 
(the two latter in the form of soup), — in fact, turtle 
in every form known to the Mosquito men, who 
well deserve the name of turtle-men. The turtle 
conceals its eggs in the sand, but the natives are 



''JUMPING turtle/' 111 

ready to detect indications of a deposit, wMch they 
verify by thrusting in the sand the iron ramrod of 
a musket, an operation which they call "feeling 
for eggs/' 

About midnight, it came on to rain heavily, and 
continued all the next day, so that nothing could 
be done. The time was " put in" talking turtle, and 
Harris got so warmed up as to promise to show me 
what the Mosquito men regard as the ne plus ultra 
of skill in turtle craft, namely, "jumping turtle/' 
He did not explain to me what this meant, but 
gave me a significant wag of the head, which is a 
Mosquito synonym for nous verrons. 

The third day proved propitious, and Harris was 
successful in obtaining several fine turtles. About 
noon he laid aside his spear, and took his position, 
entirely naked, keeping up, nevertheless, his usual 
look-out. We were not long in getting on the 
track of a turtle. After a world of maneuvering, 
apparently with the object of driving him into shal- 
low water, Harris made a sudden dive overboard. 
The water boiled and bubbled for a few moments, 
when he reappeared, holding a fine hawk-bill in 
his outstretched hands. And that feat proved to 
be what is called "jumping a turtle." It often 
happens that bungling fishermen get badly bitten 
in these attempts, which are not without their dan- 
gers from the sharp coral rocks and spiny sea-eggs. 

During the afternoon of the fourth day, we re- 
turned to the lagoon, taking with us eight green 
turtles, and about ninety pounds of fine shell. We 



112 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. ^ 

found that most of the party Avhich. we had left had 
gone hack to the village, whither Drummer and his 
" quarter-master" were urgent I should return with 
them. But Wasswatla had no further attractions 
for me, and I was firm in my purpose of proceeding 
straightway up the coast. 

With many last turns at the grog, I parted — not 
without regret — with Drummer and Harris, giving 
them each a gaudy silk handkerchief, in acknowl- 
edgment of two fine turtles which they insisted on 
my accepting. Harris also gave me his turtle- 
spear, and was much exalted when I told him that 
I should have it engraved with his name, and hung 
up in my watla (house) at home. 

Pearl-Cay Lagoon is upward of forty miles long, 
hy, jDcrhaps, ten miles wide at its hroadest part. 
There are three or four settlements upon it, the 
principal of which are called Kirka, and English 
Bank. I did not visit any of these, hut took my 
course direct for the upper end of the lagoon, where, 
as the chain of salt lakes is here interrupted for a 
considerahle distance, there is another liaulover 
from the lagoon to the sea. I saw several collec- 
tions of huts on the western shore, and on a small 
island, where we stopped during the mid-day heats, 
I gathered a few stalks of the jiquilite {Indigofera 
cUsperma), or indigenous indigo-plant, which may 
he ranked as one of the prospective sources of 
wealth on the coast. 

We arrived at the liaulover in the midst of a 
drenching thunder-storm, which lasted into the 



TROPICAL TORMENTS. 113 

night. It was impossible to light a fire, and so we 
drew up the canoe on the beach, and, piling our 
traps in the centre, I perched myself on the top, 
where, with the sail thrown over my head, I enact- 
ed the part of a tent-pole for the live-long night ! 
My Indian companions stripped themselves naked, 
rubbed their bodies with palm oil, and took the 
pelting with all the nonchalance of ducks. For 
want of any thing better to do, I ate plantains and 
dried fish, and, after the rain subsided, watched the 
brilliant fire-flies, of which hundreds moved about 
lazily under the lee of the bushes. The atmos- 
phere, after the storm had subsided, was murky and 
sultry, making respiration difficult, and inducing a 
sense of extreme lassitude and fatigue. Every 
thing was damp and sticky, and so saturated with 
water, that it was impossible for me to lie down. I 
applied to my Jamaica for comfort, but, in spite of 
it, relapsed into a fit of glums, or " blue-devils."' 
To add to my discomfort, innumerable sand-flies 
came out, and, soon after, a cloud of mosquitos, 
while a forest-full of some kind of tree-toad struck 
up a doleful piping, which proved too much for 
even my tried equanimity. I got U]j, and strode 
back and forth on the narrow sand-beach, in a ve- 
hement and intemperate manner, wishing myself in 
New York, any where, even in Jamaica ! The re- 
membrance of my first night on the shores of the 
lagoon only served to make me feel the more 
wretched, and I longed to have " some gentleman 
do me the favor to thread on the tail of me coat \" 



114: THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

Toward dayliglit, however, my companions liad 
contrived to make up a sickly fire, in the smoke of 
which I sought refuge from the mosquitoes and 
sand-flies, and became soothed and sooty at the 
same time. Day came at lagt, hut the sun was ob- 
scured, and things wore but slight improvement on 
the night. I found that we were on a narrow strip 
of sand, scarcely two hundred yards wide, covered 
with scrubby bushes, interspersed with a few twist- 
ed trees, looking like weather-beaten skeletons, be- 
yond which was the sea, dark and threatening, 
under a gray, filmy sky. Antonio predicted a 
storm, what he called a temporal^ during which it 
often rains steadily for a week. Under the circum- 
stances, it became a pregnant question what to do : 
whether to return down the lagoon to some more 
ehgible spot for an encampment, or to push out 
boldly on the ocean, and make an effort to gain the 
mouth of a large river, some miles up the coast, 
called Kio G-rande or Great Kiver. 

I resolved upon the latter course, and we drag- 
ged the canoe across the liaulover. Although the 
surf was not high, we had great difficulty in 
launching our boat, which was effected by my com- 
panions, who, stationed one on each side, seized a 
favorable moment, as the waves fell, to drag it be- 
yond the line of breakers. While one kept it sta- 
tionary with his paddle, the other, watching his op- 
portunity, carried off the articles one by one, and 
finally, stripping myself, I mounted on Antonio's 
shoulders, and was deposited like a sack in the 



BRAVING THE BAR. 115 

boat. We paddled out until we got a good offing, 
then put up our sail, and laid our course north- 
north-west. The coast was dim and indistinct, but 
I had great faith in the Poyer boy, whose judgment 
had thus far never failed. About four o'clock in 
the afternoon, we came in sight of a knoll or high 
bank, which, covered with large trees, rises on the 
north side of the mouth of Great Kiver, constitut- 
ing an excellent landmark. I was in no wise sorry 
to find ourselves nearing it rapidly, for the wind be- 
gan to freshen, and I feared lest it might raise such 
a surf on the bar of the river as to prevent us from 
entering. In fact, the waves had begun to break at 
the shallower places on the bar, while elsewhere 
the north-east wind drove over the water in heavy 
swells. The sail was hastily gathered in, and my 
Indians, seizing their paddles, watched the seventh, 
or crowning wave, and, by vigorous exertion, cheer- 
ing each other with shouts, kept the canoe at its 
crest, and thus we were swept majestically over the 
bar, into the comjDaratively quiet water beyond it. 
Half an hour afterward, the great waves broke on 
the very spot where we had crossed, in clouds of 
spray, and with the noise of thunder ! 

The mouth of Great Kiver is broad, but entirely 
exposed to the north-east ; and, although it is a 
large stream, the water on its bar is not more than 
five or six feet deep, shutting out all large vessels, 
which otherwise might go up a long way into the 
country. There are several islands near the mouth. 
On the innermost one, which toward the sea is 



116 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

bluff and high, we made our encampment. It ap- 
peared to me as favorable a spot as we could find, 
whereon to await the temporal which Antonio had 
predicted, and the approach of which became ap- 
parent to even the most unpracticed observer. For- 
tunately, with Harris' turtles, we felt easy on the 
score of food. So we dragged the canoe high up on 
the bank, and while I kindled a fire, my companions 
busied themselves in constructing a shelter over the 
boat. Stout forked stakes were planted at each 
end of the canoe, to support a ridge-pole, with other 
shorter ones supporting the outer poles. To these, 
canes were lashed transversely, and over all was 
woven a thatch of cahoon, or palmetto-leaves. Out- 
side, and on a line with the eaves, a little trench 
was dug, to carry off the water, and preserve the 
interior from being flooded by what might run 
down the slope of the ground. So rapidly was all 
this done, that before it was quite dark the hut was 
so far advanced as to enable us to defy the rain, 
which soon began to fall in torrents. The strong 
sea wind drove off the mosquitos to the bush on the 
main-land, so that I slept comfortably and well, in 
spite of the thunder of the sea and the roaring of 
the wind. 

For eight days it rained almost uninterruptedly. 
Sometimes, between nine and eleven o'clock, and 
for perhaps an hour near sunset, there would be a 
pause, and a lull in the wind, and a general light- 
ing up of the leaden sky, as if the sun were about to 
break through. But the clouds would gather again 



A TROPICAL "TEMPORAL 



IIT 



darker than ever, and the rain set in with a steady 
pouring unknown in northern latitudes. For eight 
mortal days we had no ray of sun, or moon, or star ! 
Every iron thing became thickly coated with rust ; 
our plantains began to spot, and our dried fish to 
grow soft and mouldy, requiring to be hung over 
the small fire which we contrived to keep alive, in 
one corner of our extemporaneous hut. 




TEJIPORAL CAMP. 



After the third day, the water in the river began 
to rise, and during the night rose more than eight 
feet. Qn the fifth day the current was full of large 
trees, their leaves still green, which seemed to be 
bound together with vines. In the afternoon down 
came the entire thatched roof of a native hut, which 
lodged against our island, bringing us a most accept- 
able freight, in the shape of a plump two-months 



118 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

old pig. His fellow-vojager — strange companion- 
sliip ! — was a tame parrot, with clipped wings, who 
looked melancholy enough when rescued, but who, 
after getting dry in our hut, and soothing his appe- 
tite on my plantains, first became mirthful, then 
boisterous, and finally mischievous. He was im- 
mf^-^.iately installed as one of the party, and made 
more noise in the world than all the rest. To me 
he proved an unfailing source of amusement. He 
was respectful toward Antonio, but vicious toward 
the Poyer boy, and never happy except when 
cautiously stealing to get a bite at his toes. When 
successful in this he became wild with delight, and 
as noisy and vehement as a lucky Frenchman. It 
was one of his prime delights to gnaw off the corks 
of my bottles ; and he was possessed of a most in- 
sane desire to get inside of my demijohn, mistak- 
ing it, perhaps, for a wicker cage, from which he 
imagined himself wrongfully excluded. Antonio 
called him " El Moro,'' the Moor, for what reason I 
did not understand, and the name suiting me as 
well as any other, I baptized him with water, " El 
Moro," and got an ugly pinch on the wrist for my 
blasphemy. 

Our young porker escaped drowning only to fall 
into the hands of the Philistines ; we had nothing 
to feed him ; he might get away ; he was, more- 
over, invitingly fat ; so we incontinently cut his 
throat, and ate him up ! 

During our imprisonment, my companions were 
not idle. Upon the island were many moAoe-trees, 



ISLAND IMPKISONMENT. 119 

the bark of which is tough, and of a fine, soft, 
white fibre. Of this they collected considerable 
quantities, which the Poyer boy braided into a sort 
of cap, designed as the foundation of the elegant 
feather head-dress which he afterward gave me ; 
while Antonio, more utilitarian, wove a small net, 
not unlike that which we use to catch crabs. Me 
at once put it into requisition to catch craw-iish, 
which abounded among the rocks to the seaward of 
the island. But before entering upon the subject 
of craw-fish, I may say that the moJioe bark, from 
its fine quality, and the abundance in which it may 
be procured, might be made exceedingly useful for 
the manufacture of j)aper — an article now becom- 
ing scarce and dear. 

The Cray or craw-fish resemble the lobster, but 
are smaller in size, and want the two great claws. 
Their flesh has more flavor than that of either the 
crab or lobster, and we found them an acceptable 
addition to our commissariat. There were many 
wood-pigeons and parrots on the island, but my gun 
had got in such a state, from the damp, that I did 
not attempt to use it. 

Our protracted stay made a large draft on our 
yucas and plantains, and it became important to us 
to look out for fruit and vegetables. The current 
in the river was too strong, and too much obstruct- 
ed with floating timber, to permit us to use our 
boat. The water, even at the broadest part of the 
stream, had risen upward of fifteen feet, equivalent 
to a rise of twenty or twenty-five feet in the inte- 



120 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

rior ! The banks were overflowed ; the low islands 
outside of us completely submerged and our own 
space much circumscribed. A few plantain-trees, 
which we had observed on the first evening, had 
been broken down or swept away, and we were fain 
to put ourselves on a short allowance of vegetables. 
One morning, during a pause in the rain, I ven- 
tured out ; and, after a little search, found a tree, 
resembling a pear-tree, and bearing a large quan- 
tity of a small fruit, of the size and shape of a crab- 
apple, and exactly like it in smell. I cried out de- 
lightedly to Antonio, holding up a handful of the 
supposed apples. To my surprise, he shouted, 
'^ Throw them down ! throw them down V explain- 
ing that they were the fruit of the mangeneel or 
manzanilla, and rank poison. He hurried me away 
from the tree, assuring me that even the dew or 
rain-drops which fell from its leaves were poisonous, 
and that its influence, like that of the fabled tipas^ 
is so powerful as to swell the faces and limbs of 
those who may be ignorant or indiscreet enough 
to sleep beneath its shade ! I found out subse- 
quently, that it is with the acrid milky juice of this 
tree that the Indians poison their arrows. I ever 
afterward gave it a wide berth. In shape and 
smell is is so much like the crab-api3le that I can 
readily understand how it might prove dangerous to 
strangers. Under the tropics, it is safe to let wild 
fruits alone. Antonio, more successful than myself, 
found a large quantity of guavas, which the natives 
eat with great relish, but which to me have a disa- 



THE RELEASE. 121 

greeable aromatic, or rather, musky taste. So I 
stuck to plantains, and left my companions and 
"El Moro'" to enjoy a monopoly of guavas. 

Finally, the windows of heaven were closed, the 
rain ceased, and the sun came out with a bright, 
well-washed face. It was none too soon, for every 
article which I possessed, clothing, books, food, all 
had begun to spot and mould from the damp. I 
had myself a sym23athetic feeling, and dreamed at 
night that I was covered with a green mildew ; 
dreams so vivid that I once got up and went out 
naked in the rain, to wash it off ! 

After the leaves had ceased to drip, we stretched 
lines between the trees, and hung out our scanty 
wardrobe to dry. I rubbed and brushed at my 
court suit of black, but in vain. What with salt 
water at " El Roncador,'' and mould here, it had 
acquired a permanent rusty and leprous look, which 
half inclined me to follow the Poyer boy^s sugges- 
tion, and soak it in palm oil ! Few and simple as 
were our equipments, it took full two days to redeem 
them from the effects of the damp. My gun more 
resembled some of those quaint old fire -locks taken 
from wrecks, and exhibited in museums, than any 
thing useful to the present generation. In view of 
all things, I was fain to ejaculate. Heaven save me 
from another " temporaV on the Mosquito Shore ! 

6 




T was three days after the rain had 
i ceased, before we could embark on 
the river, and even then its current 
was angry and turbid, and filled 
with floating trees. We hugged the banks in our 
ascent, darting from one side of the stream to the 
other, to avail ourselves of the hack-sets^ or eddies, 
sometimes losing, by an unsuccessful attempt, all we 
had gained by half an hour of hard paddling. The 
banks were much torn by the water ; in some j^laces 
they had fallen in, carrying many trees into the 
stream, where they remained anchored to the shore 
by the numerous tough vines that twined around 
them. Elsewhere the trees, half undermined, leaned 
heavily over the current, in which the long vines 
hung traihng in mournful masses, like the drooping 
leaves of the funeral willow. The long grass on the 
low islands had been beaten down, and was covered 



EL RIO GRANDE. 123 

with a slimy deposit, over whicli stalked hungry 
water-birds, the snow-white ibis, and long-shanked 
crane, in search of worms and insects, and entangled 
fish. 

We were occupied the whole day, in reaching the 
first settlement on this river — a picturesque collec- 
tion of low huts, in a forest of palm, papaya, and 
plantain-trees. Near it were some considerable 
patches of maize, and long reaches of yucas, squash, • 
and melon-vines. There were, in short, more evi- 
dences of industry and thrift than I had yet seen on 
the entire coast. 

As we approached the bank, in front of the huts, 
I observed that all the inhabitants were pure In- 
dians, whom my Poyer boy hailed in his own tongue. 
I afterward found out that they were Woolwas, and 
spoke a dialect of the same language with the 
Poyers, and Cookras, to the northward. As at 
Wasswatla, nearly all the inhabitants crowded 
down to the shore to meet me, affording, with their 
slight and symmetrical bodies, and long, well- 
ordered, glossy black hair, a striking contrast to the 
large-bellied, and spotted mongrels on the Wawa- 
shaan. I produced my "King-paper," and ad- 
vanced toward a couple of elderly men bearing 
white wooden wands, which I at once conjectured 
were insignia of authority. But no sooner did 
they get sight of my '^ King-paper," than they 
motioned me back with tokens of displeasure, 
exclaiming, ^^ Sax! sax!" which I had no dif- 
ficulty in comprehending meant " take it away !" 



124 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

So I folded it up, put it in my pocket, and ex- 
tended my hand, whicli was taken by- each, and 
shaken in the most formal manner. When the men 
with the wands had finished, all the others came 
forward, and went through the same ceremony, 
most of them ejaculating, interrogatively, Nahisma ? 
which appears to be an exact equivalent of the 
English, ^^ How are you ?" 

This done, the men with the wands beckoned to me 
to follow them, which I did, to a large hut, neatly 
wattled at the sides, and closed by a door »of 
canes. One of them pushed this open, and I en- 
tered after him, followed only by those who had 
wands, the rest clustering like bees around the 
door, or peering through the openings in the wat- 
tled walls. There were several rough blocks of wood 
in the interior, upon which they seated themselves, 
placing me between them. All this while there 
was an unbroken silence, and I was quite in a fog 
as to whether I was held as a guest or as a prisoner. 
I looked into the faces of my friends in vain ; they 
were as impassible as stones. I, however, felt re- 
assured when I saw Antonio at the door, his face 
wearing rather a pleased than alarmed expression. 

We sat thus a very long time, as it appeared to 
me, when there was a movement outside, the crowd 
separated, and a man entered, bearing a large 
earthen vessel filled with liquid, followed by two 
girls, with baskets piled v/ith cakes of corn meal, 
fragments of some kind of broiled meat, and a 
quantity of a paste of plantains, having the taste of 



A W O L W A WELCOME. 125 

figs, and called hishire. The eldest of the men of 
wands filled a small calabash with the liquid, 
touched it to his lips, and passed it to me. I did 
the same, and handed it to my next neighbor ; hut 
he motioned it hack, exclaiming, " Dis / dis !" 
drink, drink ! I found it to he a species of palm- 
wine, with which I afterward became better ac- 
quainted. It proved pleasant enough to the taste, 
and I drained the calabash. Another one of the 
old men then took up some of the roast meat, tore 
offhand ate a little, and handed the rest to me. 
Not slow in adaptation, I took all hints, and wound 
up by making a hearty meal. The remnants 
were then passed out to Antonio, who, however, 
was permitted to wait on himself. 

I made some observations to Antonio in Spanish, 
which I perceived was understood by the principal 
dignitary of the wands, who, after some moments, 
informed me, in good Spanish, that the hut in 
which we were, was the cabildo of the village, and 
that it was wholly at my service, so long as I chose 
to stay. He furthermore pointed out to me a rude 
drum hanging in one corner, made by stretching 
the raw skin of some animal over a section of a hollow 
tree, upon which he instructed me to beat in case I 
wanted any thing. This done, he rose, and, followed 
by his companions, ceremoniously retired, leaving 
me in quiet possession of the largest and best hut 
in the village. I felt myself quite an important 
personage, and ordered up my hammock, and the 
various contents of my canoe, with a degree of sat- 



126 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 

isfaction which I had not experienced when waging a 
war against the pigs, in the " King's house" at 
Wasswatla. 

I subsequently ascertained that all of the ideas 
of government which the Indians on this river pos- 
sess, were derived from the Spaniards, either de- 
scending to them from former Spanish establish- 
ments here, or obtained from contact with the 
Spaniards far up in the interior. The principal 
men were called '^alcaldes," and many Spanish 
words were in common use. I discovered no trace 
of negro blood among them, and found that they 
entertained a feeling of dislike, amounting to hostil- 
ity, to the Mosquito men. So far as I could ascer- 
tain, while they denied the authority of the Mos- 
quito king, they sent down annually a certain 
quantity of sarsaparilla, maize, and other articles, 
less as tribute than as the traditionary price of 
being let alone by the Sambos. In former times, it 
appeared, the latter lost no opportunity of kidnap- 
ping their children and women, and selling them to 
the Jamaica traders, as slaves. Indeed, they some- 
times undertook armed forays in the Indian terri- 
tory, for the purpose of taking prisoners, to be sold 
to men who made this traffic a regular business. 
This practice continued down to the abolition of 
slavery in Jamaica — a measure of which the Mos- 
quito men greatly complain, notwithstanding that 
they were not themselves exempt from being occa- 
sionally kidnapped. 

The difficulty of entering the Rio Grande, and 



HABITS OF THE INDIANS. 127 

the absence of any considerable traffic with the 
natives on its banks, are among the causes which 
have contributed to keep them free from the de- 
grading influences that prevail on the Mosquito 
Shore. They rely chiefly upon agriculture for their 
support, and fish and hunt but little. They have 
abundance of maize, yucas, cassava, squashes, plan- 
tains, papayas, cocoa-nuts, and other fruits and 
vegetables, including a few limes and oranges, as 
also pigs and fowls, and higher up the river, in the 
savannah country, a few horned cattle. I observed, 
among the domestic fowls, the true Muscovy duck, 
and the idigenous hen or cliaclialaca. 

The people themselves, though not tall, are well- 
made, and have a remarkably soft and inoffensive 
expression. The women — and especially the girls — 
were exceedingly shy, and always left the huts when 
I entered. The men universally wore the ^f/e towr- 
Qiou, or breech-cloth, but the women had in its 
place a piece of cotton cloth of their own manufac- 
ture, striped with blue and yellow, which hung half- 
way down the thighs, and was supported above the 
hips by being tucked under in some simple, but, to 
me, inexplicable manner.''-' The young girls were 
full and symmetrical in form, with fine busts, and 
large, lustrous, black eyes, which, however, always 
had to me a startled, deer-like expression. I saw 

* The blue dye, used in coloring by these Indians, is made from 
the jiquilite, which, as I have said, is indigenous on the coast. Tho 
yellow from the anotta, called achiota, the same used to give the colox' 
known as nankeen. The tree producing it is abundant throughout 
all Central America, 



128 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

no fire-arms among the men, although they seemed 
to he acquainted with their use. They had, in- 
stead, fine hows and arrows, the latter pointed with 
iron, or a species of tough wood, hardened in the 
fire. The hoys universally had hlow-pipes or reeds, 
with which they were very expert, killing ducks, 
curlews, and a Idnd of red partridge, at the distance 
of thirty and forty yards. The silence with which 
the light arrow is sped, euahles the practiced hun- 
ter frequently to kill the greater part of a flock or 
covey y hefore the rest take the alarm. 

My life in the cahildo was unmarked hy any ad- 
venture worth notice. I received plantains, fowls, 
whatever I desired, Aladdin-like, hy tajDping the 
drum. This was always promptly responded to hy a 
couple of young Indians, who asked no questions, and 
made no replies, hut did precisely what they were 
hid. Neither they nor the -alcaldes would accept 
any thing in return for what they furnished me, he- 
yond a few red cotton handkerchiefs, and some 
small triangular files, of which old Hodgson had 
wisely instructed me to take in a small supply. They 
all seemed to he unacquainted with the use of 
money, although not without some notion of the 
value of gold and silver. I saw several of the wo- 
men with rude, light hangles of gold, which metal, 
the alcaldes told me, was found in the sands of the 
river, very far up, among the mountains. 

Among the customs of these Indians, there is one 
of a very curious nature, with which I was made 
acquainted hy accident. Nearly every day I strolled 



STRANGE CUSTOMS. 129 

off in the woods, with a vague hope of some time 
or other encountering a waree, or wild hog (of 
whose presence in the neighborhood, an occasional 
foray on the maize fields of the Indians bore wit- 
ness), or perhaps a peccary ^ or some other large 
animal. As the bush was thick, I seldom got far 
from the beaten paths of the natives, and had to 
content myself with now and then shooting a 
curassow, in lieu of higher game. One day, I 
ventured rather further up the river than usual, 
and came suddenly upon an isolated hut. Being 
thirsty, I approached with a view of obtaining some 
water. I had got within perhaps twenty paces, 
when two old women dashed out toward me, with 
vehement cries, motioning me away with the wild- 
est gestures, and catching up handfuls of leaves 
and throwing them toward me. I thought this 
rather inhospitable, and at first was disposed not to 
leave. But, finally, thinking there must be some 
reason for all this, and seeing that the women ap- 
peared rather distressed than angry, I retracted my 
steps. I afterward found, upon inquiry, that the 
hut was what is called tabooed by the South Sea 
Islanders, and devoted to the women of the village, 
during their confinement. As this period ap- 
proaches, they retire to this secluded place, where 
they remain in the care of two old women for two 
moons, passing through lustrations or purifications 
unknown to the men. While the woman is so con- 
fined to the hut, no one is allowed to approach it, 
and all persons are especially cautious not to pass it 
6* 



130 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

to the windward, for it is imagined that by so doing 
the wind, which supplies the breath of the newly- 
born child, would be taken away, and it would die. 
This singular notion, I afterward discovered, is also 
entertained by the Mosquito people, who no doubt 
derived it from their Indian progenitors. 

The course of life of the Indians appeared to be 
exceedingly regular and monotonous. Both men 
and women found abundant occupation during the 
day ; they went to bed early, and rose with the 
dawn. Although most of them had hammocks, 
they universally slept on what are called crickeries, 
or platforms of canes, supported on forked posts, 
and covered with variously-colored mats, woven of 
the bark of palm branches. I observed no drunken- 
ness among them, and altogether they were quiet, 
well-ordered, and industrious. In all their relations 
with me, they were respectful and obliging, but ex- 
ceedingly reserved. I endeavored to break through 
their taciturnity, but without success. Hence, after 
a few days had passed, and the novelty had worn off, 
I began to weary of inactivity. So I one day pro- 
posed to the principal alcalde, that he should 
undertake a hunt for the tilhia, mountain cow, or 
tapir, and the peccary, or Mexican hog. He re- 
ceived the proposition deferentially, but suggested 
that the manitus, or sea-cow, was a more wonderful 
animal than either of those I had named, and that 
it would not be difficult to find one in the river. I 
took up the hint eagerly, as I had already caught 
one or two glimpses of the manitus, which had 



THE MA NIT UB. 131 

greatly roused my curiosity. The drum was there- 
upon beaten^ and the alcaldes convened to consult 
upon the matter. They all came with their wands, 
and after due deliberation, fixed upon^ the next 
night for the expedition. Boats were accordingly 
got ready, and the hunters sharpened their lancet 
and harpoons. The latter resembled very much 
the ordinary whaling harpoons, but were smaller in 
size. The lances were narrow and sharp, and 
attached to thin staffs, of a very tough and heavy 
wood. Notwithstanding that Antonio smiled and 
shook his head, I cleaned my gun elaborately, and 
loaded it heavily with ball. 

Before narrating our adventure in the pursuit of 
the manitus, it will not be amiss to explain that 
this animal is probably the most remarkable one 
found under the tropics, being amphibious, and the 
apparent connecting link between quadrupeds and 
fishes. It may perhaps be better compared to the 
seal, in its general characteristics, than to any other 
sea-animal. It has the two fore feet, or rather 
hands, but the hind feet are wanting, or only appear 
as rudiments beneath the skin. Its head is thick 
and heavy, and has something the appearance of 
that of a hornless cow. It has a broad, flat tail, or 
integument, spreading out horizontally, like a fan. 
The skin is dark, corrugated, and so thick and hard 
that a bullet can scarcely penetrate it. A few scat- 
tered hairs appear on its body, which has a general 
resemblance of that of the hippopotamus. There 
are several varieties of the manitus, but it is an 



132 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

animal which appears to be little known to natural- 
ists. Its habits are very imperfectly understood, 
and the natives tell many extraordinary stories 
about it^ alleging, among other things, that it can 
be tamed. It is herbivorous, feeding on the long 
tender shoots of grass growing on the banks of the 
rivers, and will rise nearly half of its length out of 
water to reach its food. It is never found on the 
land, where it would be utterly helpless, since it 
can neither walk nor crawl. 

It is commonly from ten to fifteen feet long, huge 
and unwieldy, and weighing from twelv^e to fifteen 
hundred pounds. It has breasts placed between 
its paws, and suckles its young. The male and 
female are usually found together. It is extremely 
acute in its sense of hearing, and immerges itself 
in the water at the slightest noise. Great tact and 
caution are therefore necessary to kiU it, and a 
manitee hunt puts in requisition all the craft and 
skiU of the Indians. 

The favorite hour for feeding, with the manitus, 
is the early morning, during the dim, gray dawn. 
In consequence I was called up to join the hunters 
not long after midnight. Two large pitpans, each 
holding four or five men, were j)ut in requisition, 
and we paddled rapidly up the river, for several 
hours, to the top of a long reach, where there were 
a number of low islands, covered with grass, and 
where the banks were skirted by swamjDy savan- 
nahs. Here many bushes were cut, and thrown 
lightly over the boats, so as to make them resemble 



HUNTING THE MANITUB. 



133 



floating trees. We waited patiently until the 
proper liour arrived, when the boats were cast loose 
from the shore, and we drifted down with the cur- 
rent. One man was placed in the stern with a 
paddle to steer, another with a harpoon and line 




HUNTING THE MANITUS. 



crouched in the bow, while the rest, keeping their 
long keen lances clear of impediments, knelt on the 
bottom. We glided down in perfect silence, one 
boat close to each bank. I kept my eyes opened 
to the widest, and in the dim light got quite ex- 
cited over a dozen logs or so, which I mistook for 
manitee. But the hunters made no sign, and we 
drifted on, until I got impatient, and began to 
fear that our expedition might prove a failure. 
But of a sudden, when I least expected it, the man 
in the bow launched his harpoon. The movement 
was followed by a heavy plunge, and in an instant 
the boat swung round, head to the stream. Before 



134 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

I could fairly compreliend what was going on, the 
bou2:hs were all thrown overboard, and the men 
stood with their long lances i^oised, ready for in- 
stant use. We had run out a large part of the 
slack of the harpoon-line, which seemed to be fast 
to some immovable object. The bowsman, how- 
ever, now began to gather it in, dragging up the 
boat slowly against the current. Suddenly the 
manitus, for it was one, left his hold on the bottom, 
and started diagonally across the river, trailing us 
rapidly after him. This movement gradually 
brought him near the surface, as we could see by 
the commotion of the water. Down darted one of 
the lances, and under again went the manitus, now 
taldng his course with the current, down the 
stream. The other boat, meantime, had come to 
our assistance, hovering in front of us, in order to 
fasten another harpoon the instant the victim 
should approach near enough to the surface. An 
opportunity soon offered, and he received the second 
harpoon and another lance at the same instant. All 
this time I had both barrels of my gun cocked, 
feverishly awaiting my chance for a shot. Soon the 
struggles of the animal became less violent, and he 
several times came involuntarily to the surface. I 
watched my chance, when his broad head rose in 
sight, and discharged both barrels, at a distance of 
thirty feet, starthng the hunters quite as much as 
they had disconcerted me. It was the Lord's own 
mercy that some of them did not get shot in the 
general scramble ! 



A DISAPPOINTMENT. 135 

The manitus, after receiving the second harpoon, 
became nearly helpless, and the Indians, apparently- 
secure of their object, allowed the boats to drift 
with him quietly down the river. Occasionally he 
made an ineffectual attempt to dive to the bottom, 
dashing the water into foam in his efforts, but long 
before we reached the village he floated at the sur- 
face, quite dead. The morning was bright and 
clear when we paddled ashore, where we found 
every inhabitant of the place clustering to meet us. 
When they saw that we had been successful, they 
set up loud shouts, and clapped their hands with 
vigor, whence (as this was the only manifestation of 
excitement which I had seen) I inferred that the 
capture of a manitus was regarded as something of 
a feat, even on the Mosquito Shore. 

Kopes were speedily attached to the dead animal, 
at which every body seemed anxious to get a chance 
to pull, and it was dragged up the bank triumph- 
antly, amid vehement shouts. I had been some- 
what piqued at the contempt in. which my gun had 
been held, and had been not a little ambitious of 
being able to say that I had killed a manitus, and 
as, after my shot, the animal had almost entirely 
ceased its struggles, I thought it possible I had 
given it the final cou'p^ and might conscientiously 
get up a tolerable brag on my adventure, over 
Mr. Sly's punch, when I returned to New York. 
It was with some anxiety, therefore, that I investi- 
gated its ugly head, only to find that my balls had 
hardly penetrated the skin, and that the hide of the 



136 



THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 



manitus is proof against any tiling in the shape of 
firearms, except, perhaps, a Minie rifle. And thus 
I was cheated out of another chance for immortal- 
ity ! Lest, however, my story that the hide of the 
manitus is an inch thick, and tough as whale- 
bone, should not he credited, I had a strip of it cut 
off, which, when dried, became like horn, and a ter- 
ror to dogs, in all my subsequent rambles. I suspect 
there are some impertinent curs here, in 'New York, 
who entertain stins^ins: recollections of that same 
strip of manitus-hide ! Dr. Pounder, my old school- 
master, I am sure, would sacrifice his eyes, or per- 
haps, what is of equal consequence, his spectacles, 
to obtain it ! 

But while my balls were .thus impotent, I found 
that the lances of the Indians had literally gone 
through and through the manitus. The harpoons 




MANITEE HABPOON AND LANCES. 



did not penetrate far, their purpose being simply to 
fasten the animal. The lances were the fatal in- 
struments, and I afterwards saw a young Indian 
drive his completely through the trunk of a full- 
grown palm-tree. This variety of lance is called 
silah, and is greatly prized. 

There were great doings in the village over the 



DIVIDING THE SPOIL. 137 

manitus. Beneath the skin there was a deej) layer 
of very sweet fat, below which appeared the flesh, 
closely resembling beef, but coarser, and streaked 
throughout with layers of fat. This, when broiled 
before the fire, proved to be tender, well-flavored, 
and altogether delicious food. The tail is esteemed 
the most delicate part, and, as observed by Captain 
Henderson, who had a trial of it on the same shore, 
" is a dish of which Apicius might have been proud, 
and which the discriminating palate of Heliogoba- 
lus would have thought entitled to the most distin- 
guished reward V The better and more substantial 
part of the animal, namely, the flesh, was carefully 
cut in strips, rubbed with salt, and, hung in the sun 
to dry, made into what the Spaniards call tasajo. 
The other portions were distributed among the va- 
rious huts, and the tail was presented to me. When 
I came to leave, I found that the cured or tasajoed 
flesh had also been preserved for my use. Broiled 
on the coals, it proved quite equal to any thing I 
ever tasted, and as sweet as dried venison. And 
here I may mention that the flesh of the manitus, 
like that of the turtle, is not only excellent food, 
but its efi'ects on the system are beneficial, particu- 
larly in the cases of persons afflicted with scorbutic 
or scrofulous complaints. It is said these find 
speedy relief from its free use, and that, in the 
course of a few weeks, the disease entirely disap- 
pears. 




signified 
to my friends that I should be com- 
pelledj on the following day, to 
leave them, and pursue my voyage 
up the coast. I had supposed that 
there existed an interior connection between Great 
Kiver and the lagoons which led to Cape Gracias, 
but found that they commenced with a stream some 
twenty miles to the northward, called " Snook 
Creek,'' and that it would be necessary to trust our 
little boat again to the sea. 

The announcement of my intended departure was 
received without the slightest manifestion of feel- 
ing, but, during the evening, the inhabitants vied 
with each other in loading the canoe with fruits 
and provisions. They were, in fact, so lavish of 
their presents, that I was unable to accept them 
all, and had to leave more than half of what they 



AFLOAT, ONCE MORE! 139 

brought me. I, nevertheless, made special room 
for the tasajoed manitus, and took all the hishirc 
which was brought. As I have already explained, 
the hishire is a paste made of ripe plantains, hav- 
ing about the consistency, and very much the taste, 
of dried figs. It is made into rolls, closely wrapped 
in the leaves of the tree on which it grows, which 
preserve it perfectly, and it thus becomes an article 
of prime value to the voyager. '*'•■ 

I left the village with as much ceremony as I had 
entered it. The Alcaldes bearing their wands, 
escorted me down to the water, where I was obliged 
to shake hands with all the people, each one ex- 
claiming, ^' Disahia !" equivalent to '^Good-bye!'' 

* The iDlantain and the banana are varieties of the same plant. 
Thej not only constitute marked features in the luxuriant foliage of 
the tropics, but their fruit supplies the place of bread, and forms the 
principal part of the food of the people. They thrive best in a rich, 
moist soil, and are generally grown in regular walks, from shoots or 
bulbs like those of the air-plant, which continually spring up at the 
roots of the parent stem. They are very rapid in their growth, pro- 
ducing fruit within a twelvemonth. Moreover, not being dependent 
upon the seasons, a constant supply is kept up during the year ; for, 
while one stem drops beneath its load of ripe fruit, another throws 
out its long flower-spike, and a third shows the half-formed cluster. 
The fruit is very nutritive, and is eaten in a great variety of forms — 
raw, boiled, roasted, and fried — and in nearly every stage of its growth, 
as well when green as when yellow and mature. Humboldt tells 
us, that it affords, in a given extent of ground, forty-four times more 
nutritive matter than the potato, and one hundred and thirty-three 
times more than wheat. As it requires httle if any care in the culti- 
vation, and produces thus perennially and abundantly, it may be 
called an " institution for the encouragement of laziness." On the 
banks of all the rivers on the Mosquito Shore, it is found growing 
wild, from shoots brought down from the plantations of the In- 
dians, and which have taken root where they were lodged by the 
current. 



140 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

They stood on the bank until we were entirely out 
of sight. I left them with admiration for their 
primitive habits, and genuine though formal hospi- 
tality. Although, in their taciturnity, they were 
not unlike our own Indians, yet, in all other re- 
spects, they afforded a very striking contrast to 
them. The North American savage disdains to 
work ; his ambition lies in war and the chase ; but 
the gentler dweller under the tropics is often indus- 
trious, and resorts to hunting only as an accessory 
to agriculture. 

The ceremonies of my departure had occupied so 
much time that, when we reached the mouth of the 
river, it was too late to venture outside. So we 
took up our quarters, for the night, in our old en- 
campment, on the island. The moon was out, and 
the evening was exceedingly beautiful — so beauti- 
ful, indeed, that I might have fallen into heroics, 
had it not been for a most infernal concert kept up 
by wild animals on the river's banks. I at first sup- 
posed that all the ferocious beasts of the forest had 
congregated, preparatory to a general fight, and 
comforted myself that we were separated from them 
by the river. There were unearthly groans, and 
angry snarls, and shrieks, so like those of human 
beings in distress as to send a thrill through every 
nerve. At times the noises seemed blended, and 
became sullen and distant, and then so sharp and 
near that I could hardly persuade myself they were 
not produced on the island itself. I should have 
passed the night in alarm, had not Antonio been 



NOCTURNAL NOISES. 141 

there to explain to me that most, if not all these 
sounds came from what the Spaniards call the 
" mono Colorado," or howling monkey. I after- 
ward saw a specimen — a large, ugly beast, of a 
dirty, brick-red color, with a long beard, but other- 
wise like an African baboon. Different from most 
other monkeys, they remain in nearly the same 
places, and have favorite trees, in which an entire 
troop will take up its quarters at night, and o]3en a 
horrible serenade, that never fails to fill the mind 
of the inexperienced traveler with the most dismal 
fancies. Notwithstanding Antonio's explanations, 
they so disturbed my slumbers that I got up about 
midnight, and, going down to the edge of the 
water, fired both barrels of my gun in the direction 
of the greatest noise. But I advise no one to try a 
similar experiment. All the water-birds and wild 
fowl roosting in the trees gave a sudden flutter, and 
set up responsive croaks and screams, from which 
the monkeys seemed to derive great encourage- 
ment, and redoubled their howling. I was glad 
when the unwonted commotion ceased, and the deni- 
zens of the forest relapsed again into their chronic 
serenade. 

A large proportion of tropical animals are em- 
phatically " children of the night." It is at night 
that the tiger and maneless Mexican lion leave 
their lairs, and range the dense forests in pursuit 
of their prey, rousing the peccary and tapir from 
their haunts, and sending them to seek refuge in 
the thickets, where crashing of bushes and splash- 



142 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

ings in hidden pools testify to the blind fear of the 
pursued, and the fierce instincts of the pursuers. 
A sudden plunge of the alligator from the banks, 
will startle the wild birds on the overhanging trees, 
and in an instant the forest resounds to the wild 
cries of the tiger, the plaints of the frightened 
monkeys, and the shrieks and croaks of the numer- 
ous water-fowl ; while the wakeful traveler starts 
up and hastily grasps his faithful gun, surprised to 
find the wilderness, which was so still and slumber- 
ous under the noonday heats, now terrible with 
savage and warring life. 

Toward morning the commotion in the forest 
subsided, and I was enabled to snatch a few hours 
of slumber. I awoke to find the sun just streaking 
the horizon, and the boat all ready for departure. 
Antonio had cut two trunks of the buoyant molioe 
tree, which were lashed to the sides of our boat to 
act as floats, and prevent us from being overturned 
by any sudden flaw of the wind. We passed the 
bar without much trouble, and made a good ofiing, 
before laying our course for " Snook Creek.'' The 
wind was fresh, and the water bright and playful 
under the blue and cloudless sky. I leaned over 
the side of our frail boat — scarce a speck in the broad 
breast of the ocean — and watched the numerous 
marine animals and mollusca that floated past ; 
the nautilus, " small commodore," with its tiny sail 
and rosy prow, the pulsating rMzostoma, and the 
hernice, with its silken hair — most fragile forms of 
life, and yet unharmed dwellers in the mighty sea, 



MONOTINOUS SHORE. 



143 



which mocks at the strength of iron, and under- 
mines continents in its wrath ! 

During the afternoon we came close in shore, 
keeping a sharp look-out for the mouth of ^'' Snook 
Creek." There are, however, no landmarks on the 




MOLLUSCA OF THE CARIBBEAN SEA. 



entire coast ; throughout it wore the same flat, mo- 
notonous appearance — a narrow strip of sand in front 
of a low impenetrable forest, in which the fierce 
north-easters had left no large trees standing. 
Hence it is almost impossible for voyagers, not inti- 
mately acquainted with the shore, to determine their 
position. My Poyer boy had coasted here but once, 
and I found, toward evening, that he was of opinion 
that we had passed the mouth of the creek of which 
we were in search. So we resolved to stand along 
the shore for either Walpasixa or Prinza-pulka, 
where part of the hull of an American ship, wrecked 
sometime before, still remained as a guide to 
voyagers. 

As the sun went down, the wind fell, and the 



144 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

moon came up^ sliedding its liglit upon tlie broad, 
smooth swells of the sea, silver-burnished uj)on one 
side, and on the other dark but clear, like the 
shadows on polished steel. We lowered our useless 
sail, and my companions took their paddles, keep- 
ing time to a kind of chant, led off by Antonio, the 
Poyer boy joining in the swelling chorus. The 
melody was very simple, and, like that of all purely 
Indian chants, sad and plaintive. I have often 
thought, in listening to them, that they were the 
wails of a people conscious of their decay, over a 
continent slipping from their grasp, and a power 
broken forever ! 



O:; THE il XL IT SEA! 

I lay long, watching the shore as it glided past, 
and listening to the tinkle of the water under our 
prow, but finally fell into a deep and dreamless 
slumber, rocked by the ocean in its gentlest mood. 
When I awoke we had already passed the Prinza- 
pulka bar, and were fastened to the branches of a 
large tree, which had become entanged among the 



VINES AND VERDURE. 145 

mangroves, on the banks of the river: It was with 
no small degree of satisfaction that I found we had 
now an uninterrupted river and lagoon navigation 
to Cape Gracias, and that we should not again be 
obliged to venture, with our little boat, upon the 
open sea. 

The Prinza-pulka seemed rather an estuary than 
a river, and was lined with an impenetrable forest 
of mangroves. These were covered with flocks of 
the white ibis, and, as we advanced up the stream, 
we came upon others of a rose color, looking like 
houquets of flowers among the green leaves of the 
trees. 

At the distance of three miles, the river banks 
grew higher, although densely covered with wild 
plants and vines, which seemed to have subdued 
the forest. The few trees that were left were clus- 
tered all over with twining rope-plants, or Uanes, 
sometimes hanging down and swinging in mid-air, 
and again stretched to the ground, like the cord- 
age of a ship, supporting in turn, hundreds of 
creepers, with leaves of translucent green, and 
loaded with clusters of bright flowers. An oc- 
casional fan-palm thrust itself above the tangled 
verdure, as if struggling for light and air ; while the 
broad leaves of the wild plantain emerged here and 
there in groups, and the slender stalks of the 
bamboo-cane, fringed with delicate leaves like those 
of the willow, bent gracefully over the water. At 
the foot of this emerald wall was a strip of slimy 
earth, and I observed occasional holes, or tunnel- 



146 1?HE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 

like apertures, througli wliich tlie alligator trailed 
his Mdeous length, or the larger land-animals came 
down to the water to drink As we glided by one 
of these openings, a tapir suddenly projected his 
head and ugly proboscis, but, startled by our canoe, 
as suddenly withdrew it, and disappeared in the 
dark recesses of the impenetrable jungle, in which 
it is beyond the power of man to penetrate, except 
he laboriously carves his way, foot by foot, in the 
matted mass. 

About ten o^'clock we reached the mouth of a 
narrow creek^ or stream, diverging from the river 
under a comjolete canopy of verdure. Up this creek, 
my Poyer assured me, the Prinza-pulka village was 
situated. So we paddled in, and, after many wind- 
ings, finally came where the vegetation was less 
rank, and the banks were higher and firmer. I 
began to breathe freer, for the air within these 
tropical fastnesses seemed :fco me loaded with mias- 
matic damps, like the atmosphere of a vault. As 
we proceeded, the country became more and more 
open, and the water clearer, revealing a gravelly 
bottom, until, at last, to my surprise, we came upon 
broad savannahs, fringed, along the water, by 
narrow belts of trees. Through these I caught 
glimpses of gentle swells and undulations of land, 
upon which, to my further amazement, I saw 
clumps of pine-trees ! I had supposed the pine to 
be found only in high, temperate latitudes, and 
could scarcely believe that it grew here, side by 
side with the palm, almost on a level with the sea. 



A DOUBTFUL RECEPTION, 147 

until I was assured by my Poyer that it abounded 
in all the savannahs, and covered all the plateaus 
and mountains of the interior. 

A bend in the creek brought us suddenly. in view 
of a group of canoes, drawn up on the shore, in 
front of a few scattered huts. One or two women, 
engaged in some occupation at the edge of the 
water, fled when they saw us, scrambling up the 
bank in evident alarm. As we approached nearer, 
I saw through the bushes a number of men hurry- 
ing back and forth, and calling to each other in 
excited voices. Before we had fairly reached the 
landing-place, they had collected among the canoes, 
whence they motioned us back with violent ges- 
tures. Some were armed with spears, others had 
bows and arrows, and two or three carried muskets, 
which they pointed at us in a very careless and un- 
pleasant manner. I observed that they were Sam- 
bos, like those at Wasswatla, equally frizzled about 
the head, and spotted with the hulpis. Whenever 
we attempted to approach, they shouted ^^ Bus ! 
bus '" and raised their weapons. The Poyer boy 
responded by calling " Wita/' i. e., chief, or head 
man. Hereupon one of the number came forward a 
little, and inquired " Inglis ? Inglis ?" pointing to 
me. I held up my pass, and, remembering Wass- 
watla, pointed to it, exclaiming, " King paper ! 
king paper \" This seemed to produce an impres- 
sion, and we made a movement to land, but up 
came the guns again, their muzzles looking as large 
as church doors. Things certainly appeared squally, 



148 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

and I was a little puzzled wliat to do. Prudence 
suggested that we should retreat, but then that 
might he understood as an evidence of fear, which, 
with savages, as with wild beasts, is a sure way of 
inviting attack. I preferred, therefore, to await 
quietly the result of a conference which seemed to 
be going on, and in which I noticed I was frequently 
pointed out, with very suggestive gestures. While 
this was going on, Antonio carefully got out my 
gun and revolver, handing me the latter in such a 
manner as not to attract notice. He had evinced 
a high consideration for it, ever since it had played 
so large a part in my first interview with the patron 
at " El Koncador.'^ 

After much debate, two of the Sambos, including 
the head man, pushed off to us in a canoe, under 
the cover of the weapons of those on shore. They, 
however, fell back in evident alarm when they 
caught sight of my revolver. I therefore laid it 
down, extended both open hands, and hailed them 
with the Mosquito salutation, which applies equally 
at all hours of the day and night, " Good morning \" 
They re23lied, with the universal drawl, " llornm', 
sir J" I put my " king paper" forward, very con- 
spicuously, and read it through to them, no doubt 
to their edification. The head man said, " Grood ! 
good \" when I had finished, but nevertheless 
seemed suspicious of the contents of our boat, in- 
quiring, in a broken way, for " Osnabergs,"" and 
'^ pauda," or powder. I explained to them, as well 
as I could, that we were not traders, which piece of 



VILLAGE OF QUAMWATLA. 149 

information did not seem to please them. But 
when they caught sight of my demijohn, they 
evinced more amiability, which I hastened to 
heighten by giving them a calabash of the contents. 
They afterward signified their willingness to let 
me go ashore, if I would first give them my gun 
and revolver, which I sternly and peremptorily refus- 
ed to do. They finally paddled to the shore, motion- 
ing for us to follow. Upon landing, I gave them 
each a dram, which was swallowed in a breath, 
with unequivocal signs of relish. The head men. 




J^i-^^'" 



VILLAGE OP QUAMWATLA. 

after another inefiectual attempt to induce me to 
surrender my revolver, led the way up the bank, 
Antonio and the Poyer boy remaining with the 
canoe. 

The village was very straggling and squalid, al- 
though the position was one of great beauty. It 
stood on the edge of an extensive savannah, cov- 
ered thickly with coarse grass, and dotted over 



150 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

with little clusters of bushes, and clumps of dark 
pines, more resembling a rich, park, laid out with 
consummate skill, than a scene on a wild and un- 
known shore, under the tropics. As we advanced, 
I observed that the huts were all comparatively- 
new, and that there were many burnt spots, mark- 
ed by charred posts and half-burned thatch-poles. 
Among the rubbish, in one or two places, I noticed 
fragments of earthenware of European manufac- 
ture, and pieces of copper sheathing, evidently from 
some vessel. 

I was conducted to the head man's hut, where 
room was made for me to sit down on one of the 
crickeries. Some kind of fermented drink was 
brought for me, which I had great difficulty in de- 
clining. In fact, I did not like the general aspect 
of things. In the first place, there were no women 
visible, and then the ugly customers with the guns 
and spears, when not scrutinizing me or my re- 
volver — which seemed to have a strange fascination 
in their eyes — were engaged in a very sinister Idnd 
of consultation. 

The head man seemed particularly anxious to 
know my destination, and the purposes of my visit. 
My suspicions had been roused, and I represented 
myself as a little in advance of a large party from 
the Cape, bound down the coast, and inquired, in 
return, what kind of accommodations could be pro- 
vided for my companions when they arrived. This 
rather disconcerted him, and I thought the oppor- 
tunity favorable to fall back to the boat, now fully 



TROUBLE BREWING, 161 

convinced that some kind of treachery was meditat- 
ed. A movement was made to intercept me at the 
door, but the presented muzzle of my revolver 
opened the way in an instant, and I walked slowly 
down to the landing, the armed men following, and 
calling out angrily, " Mer'Jca man ! Mer'ka man I" 
Antonio stood at the top of the bank, with my gun, 
his face wearing an anxious expression. He whis- 
pered to me hurriedly, in Spanish, that half a dozen 
armed men had gone down the creek in a boat, and 
that he had no doubt the intention was to attack 
us. 

In fact the cowardly wretches were now brandish- 
ing their weapons, and uttering savage shouts. I 
at once saw that there was but one avenue of es- 
cape open, namely, to take to our boat, and get 
away as fast as possible. I waited until my com- 
panions had taken their places, and then walked 
down the bank deliberately, and entered the canoe. 
A few rapid strokes of the paddles carried us well 
clear of the shore, before the Sambos reached the 
top of the bank. I brought my gun to bear upon 
them, determined to fire the instant they should 
manifest any overt act of hostility. They seemed 
to comprehend this, and contented themselves with 
running after us, along the bank, shouting " Mer'ka 
man !" and pointing their weapons at us, through 
the openings in the bushes. 

We were not long in getting beyond their reach, 
but they nevertheless kept up loud, taunting shouts, 
while we were within hearing. I counted this a 



152 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

lucky escape from the village, but was not at my 
ease about the party which had gone down the creek. 
I felt sure that they were in ambush in some of the 
dark recesses of the banks, and that we might 
be attacked at any moment. Both Antonio and 
myself, therefore, sat down in the bottom of the 
canoe, closely watching the shores, while the Poyer 
boy paddled noiselessly in the stern. It was now 
near night, and the shadows gathered so darkly 
over the narrow stream that we could see nothing 
distinctly. On we went, stealthily and watchfully. 
We had reached the darkest covert on the creek, a 
short distance above its junction with the river, 
v/hen a large canoe shot from the bank across our 
bows, with the evident purpose of intercepting us. 
At the same instant a flight of arrows whizzed past 
us, one or two striking in the canoe, while the 
others spattered the water close by. I at once com- 
menced firing my revolver, while Antonio, seizing 
the long manitee-spear, sprang to the bow. At the 
same instant our canoe struck the opposing boat, as 
the saying is, "head on,'' crushing in its rotten 
sides, and swamping it in a moment. Antonio gave 
a wild shout of triumph, driving his spear at the 
struggling wretches, some of whom endeavored to 
save themselves by climbing into our canoe. I 
heard the dull tchug of the lance as it struck the 
body of one of the victims, and, with a sickening- 
sensation, cried to the Poyer, who had also seized a 
lance to join in the slaughter, to resume his paddle. 
He did so, and in a few seconds we were clear of the 



THE FLIGHT. 165 

scene of our encounter, and gliding away in tlie 
darkness. I caught a ■ glimpse of the struggling 
figures clinging to their shattered boat, and utter- 
ing the wildest cries of alarm and distress. The 
quick ear of Antonio caught responsive shouts, and 
it soon became evident that we had been followed 
by boats from the village. 

Convinced that we would be pursued, and that if 
overtaken we should be borne down by numbers, the 
question of our safety became one of superior craft, 
or superior speed. I was disposed to try the latter, 
but yielded to Antonio, who, watching an opportu- 
nity, ran our boat under an overhanging tree, where 
the tangled bank cast an impenetrable shadow on 
the water. Here we breathlessly awaited the course 
of events. It was not long before we heard a slight 
ripple, and through the uncertain light I saw three 
canoes dart rapidly and silently past. The pursuers 
evidently thought we had reached the river, where 
the mangroves and impenetrable jungles on the 
banks would effectually prevent concealment or 
escape. Believed from the sense of immediate 
danger, it became a vital question what we should 
next do to secure our ultimate safety. The moon 
would soon be up, and our pursuers, not finding us 
on the river, would at once divine our trick, and, 
placing us between themselves and the town, render 
escape impossible. To abandon our boat was to 
court a miserable death in the woods. Antonio 
suggested the only feasible alternative. There 
were but three canoes, and when they reached the 



lot) THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

riyer^ he shrewdly reasoned, two would follow our 
most probable track down the stream, while the 
third would doubtless search for us above. Our 
policy, then, was to follow in the wake of the latter, 
until it should be as widely separated from aid as 
possible, and then, by a sudden coup-de-main, either 
disable or paralyze our opponents, and make the 
best of our way into the interior, where we could 
not fail to find creeks, and other places of refuge 
from pursuit. 

My companions stripped themselves, so as not to 
be encumbered in the water, in case of accident, and 
I followed their example, retaining only my dark 
shirt, lest my white body should prove too conspic- 
uous a mark. I carefully loaded my pistols, put a 
handful of buck-shot in each barrel of my gun, and 
we started down the creek. A few moments brought 
us to the river, but we could neither see nor hear 
the canoes of our enemies. We turned up the 
stream, paddling rapidly, but silently, and keeping 
close to the shore. Every few minutes Antonio 
would stop to listen. Meantime, I hailed with joy 
some heavy clouds in the East, which promised to 
prolong the obscurity, by hiding the light of the 
rising moon. 

The excitement of the night of the terrible storm, 
in which I was Avrecked on "El Koncador/' was 
trifling to what I experienced that evening, paddling 
up the dark and sullen river. I exulted in every 
boat's length which Ave gained, as tending to make 
tlie inevitable contest more equal, and welcomed 



GATHERING OF THE STORM. 15T 

every ebon fold of cloud which gathered in the hori- 
zon. I felt that a thunder-storm was brooding ; 
and the marshaling of the elements roused still 
more the savage desperation which gradually ab- 
sorbed every other feeling and sentiment. At first, 
every nerve in my system vibrated, and I trembled 
in every limb ; I felt like one in an ague fit ; but 
this soon passed away — every muscle became tense, 
and I felt the strong pulsations in my temples, as 
if molten iron was coursing through the veins. I 
no longer sought to avoid a contest, but longed 
for the hour to come when I could shed blood. 
Every moment seemed an age, and I know not how 
I subdued my impatience. 

Meantime the threatened storm gathered, with a 
rapidity peculiar to the tropics on the eve of a 
fervid day, and the darkness became so dense that 
we several times run our boat against the bank, 
from sheer inability to see. Suddenly the dark vail 
of heaven was rift, and the lurid lightning fell with 
a blinding flash, which seemed to sear our eye-balls. 
An instant after rolled in the deep-voiced thunder, 
booming awfully among the primeval forests. A 
few rain-drops followed, which struck with steel-like 
sharpness on the naked skin, and hot pufi*s of air 
came soughing along the river. A moment after 
the heavens again glowed with the lightnings, glar- 
ing on the dark breast of the river, and revealing, 
but a few yards in advance of us, the hostile canoe, 
returning from what its occupants no doubt regarded 
as a hopeless pursuit. Their loud shout of savage 



168 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

defiance and joy was cut sliort by the heavy roll of 
the thunder, and, an instant after, the bows of our 
boats came together. They glanced apart, and I 
was nearly thrown from my balance into the water, 
for I had risen, the more surely to pour the contents 
of my gun into the midst of our assailants. Another 
shout followed the shock, and I heard the arrows, 
shot at random in the darkness, hiss past our heads. 
I reserved my fire until the lightning should fall 
to guide my aim. I had not long to wait ; a third 
fiash revealed the opposing boat ; I saw that it was 
filled with men, and that in their midst stood the 
treacherous head man of the village. The flash of 
my gun, and that of the lightning, so far as human 
senses could discern, were simultaneous ; yet instan- 
taneous as the whole transaction must have been, I 
saw my victim fall, and heard his body plunge in 
the water, before the report had been caught up by 
the echo, or drowned by the thunder. I shall never 
forget the shriek of terror and of rage that rung out 
from that boat to swell the angry discord of the ele- 
ments. Even now, it often startles me from my 
sleep. But then it inspired me with the wildest 
joy ; I shouted back triumphantly, and tossed my 
arms exultingly in the face of the unblenching darlv- 
ness. A few more arrows, a couple of musket-shots, 
fired at random toward us, and the combat was 
over. We heard wails and groans, but they grew 
fainter and more distant, showing that our enemies 
were dropping down the river. Another flash of 



AND THE ESCAPE. 169 

lightning disclosed them drifting along the bank, 
and beyond the reach of our weapons. 

Our purpose was now accomplished ; our foes 
were behind us, and before us an unknown mesh of 
lagoons and rivers. We had no alternative but to 
advance, perhaps upon other and more formidable 
dangers. However that might be, we did not stop 
to consider, but all through the stormy night plied 
our paddles with incessant energy. About midnight 
we came to a small lagoon, on the banks of which 
we observed some fires, but the sky was still over- 
cast, and we escaped notice. Toward morning the 
moon came out, and we directed our boat close in 
shore, so as to take refuge in some obscure creek 
during the day. An opening finally presented it- 
self, and we paddled in. As we advanced it became 
narrow, and was obstructed by drooping branches 
and fallen trunks. Under some of them we forced 
our boat with difficulty, and others we cut away 
with our machetes. After infinite trouble and labor 
we passed the mangrove-swamp, and came to high 
grounds, on which were many coyol palm-trees, and 
a few dark pines. Here, exhausted with our ex- 
traordinary efforts, and no longer sustained by ex- 
citement, we made a hasty encampment. To guard 
against surprise Antonio undertook the first watch, 
and, wrapping myself in my blanket, I fell into a 
profound slumber. 

And now, to remove any mystery which might 
attach to the hostile conduct of the Sambos at 
Quamwatla (for that was the name of the inhos- 



lt)0 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 

pitable village), I may explain that, in September, 
1849, the bark " Simeon Draper," from New York, 
bound for Chagres, with passengers for California, 
was wrecked on the coast, near the mouth of the 
Prinza-pulka Eiver. The remains of her hull I 
have alluded to, as now constituting one of the 
principal landmarks on that monotonous shore. 
Her passengers all escaped to the land, and suc- 
ceeded in recovering most of their effects. They 
were soon discovered by the Sambos of Quamwatla, 
who, affecting friendship, nevertheless committed 
extensive depredations on the property of the pas- 
sengers. Strong representations were made to the 
head man, but without effect ; in fact, it soon be- 
came evident that he was the principal instigator 
of the robberies. The news of the wreck spread 
along the coast, and a large number of Sambos 
gathered at the village. As their numbers in- 
creased, they grew bold and hostile, until the po- 
sition of the passengers became one of danger. 
They finally received intimations that a concerted 
attack would soon be made upon them, which they 
anticipated by an assault upon the Sambo village. 
The inhabitants, taken by surprise, fled after a few 
discharges of the rifles and revolvers, and the village 
was set on fire and burned to the ground. The 
wrecked Americans were not afterward disturbed, 
and their condition becoming known in San Juan, 
a vessel was dispatched to their relief, and they 
were taken off in safety. 

It was not until I arrived at Cape Grracias that I 



THE EXPLANATION. 161 

became acquainted with these facts, which account- 
ed for the appearance of things in Quamwatla, and 
explained the hostility of the natives. Every Eng- 
lishman on the coast is a trader, and as I disowned 
that character, and, moreover, carried a revolver, 
they were not long in making up their minds that 
I was an American. 

Under all the circumstances of the case, our es- 
cape was almost miraculous. I subsequently ascer- 
tained that three of our assailants had been killed 
outright in the two encounters, and that the treach- 
erous head man had died of his wounds. 

It is with no feehng of exultation that I mention 
this fact ; for, so long as I live, I shall not cease to 
lament the necessity, which circumstances imposed 
upon me, of taking the life of a human being, how- 
ever debased or criminal. I know of no sacrifice 
which I would not now make to restore those mis- 
erable wretches to their deserted huts, and to the 
rude affection of which even savages are capable. 
The events of that terrible night have left a shadow 
over my heart, which time rather serves to deepen 
than to efface. 




UR reception at Quamwatla had cer- 
tainly not been of a kind to inspire 
us with the most cheerful anticipa- 
tions. We knew that a vast net-work o? lagoons, 
rivers, and creeks extended to Cape Gracias, but of 
the character and disposition of the people, scatter- 
ed along their tangled shores, we were utterly igno- 
rant. Turning back was not to be thought of ; and 
going ahead was a matter which required caution. 
Should we be so unfortunate as to get involved in 
another fight, we could hardly expect to get off. so 
easily as we had done in our last encounter. 

Under all the circumstances, we concluded that, 
inasmuch as our place of refuge seemed secure, and 
withal was not deficient in resources, it would be 
the wisest plan to remain where we were until the 



CAMP IN THE WILDERNESS. 163 

pursuit, which we were sure would be made, should 
have been abandoned ; or, at least, until the waning 
of the moon should afford us a dark night, wherein 
we could pursue our voyage unobserved. With this 
sage resolution, we set to work to establish a tem- 
porary camp. 

As I have said, the little creek, which we had fol- 
lowed, led us to the base of a range of low hills, or 
rather ridges or swells of land, where the ground 
was not alluvial, but dry and gravelly. These 
ridges could hardly be called savannahs, although 
they were covered with a species of coarse grass, 
relieved, here and there, by clumps of gum-arabic 
bushes, groups of pine-trees, and an occasional 
coyol, or spiny-palm. Between these comparative- 
ly high grounds and the lagoon, intervened a dense, 
impenetrable mangrove-swamp, pierced by a few 
choked channels formed by the small streams com- 
ing down from the hills. 

I selected the shelter of a clump of fragrant 
pines for our encampment, where the ground was 
covered with a soft, brown carpet of fallen leaves. 
A rope stretched between the trees supported our 
little sail, which was spread out, tent-wise, by poles. 
Under this my hammock was suspended, affording 
a retreat, shady and cool by day, and secure from 
damps and rains at night. 

In a little grassy dell, close by, was a clear spring 
of water. We lit no fires except at night, lest the 
smoke might betray us ; and only then in places 
whence the light could not be reflected. 



164 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

Accustomed as were my companions to wild and 
savage life^ they seemed to enjoy the danger and 
the seclusion in which we found ourselves. It gave 
them an opportunity to display their skill and re- 
sources^ and they really assumed toward me an air 
of complacent patronage, something like that of a 
city liahitue toward his country cousin, when show- 
ing to him the marvels of the metropolis. 

One of Antonio's earliest exploits, after our reso- 
lution to stop had been taken, was to cut down a 
number of the rough-looking palm-trees. In the 
trunks of these, near their tops, where the leaves 
sprang out, he carefully chiseled a hole, cutting 
completely through the pulp of the tree, to the 
outer, or woody shell. This hole was again cov- 
ered with the piece of rind, which had first been 
removed, as with a lid. I watched the operation 
curiously, but asked no questions. In the course of 
the afternoon, however, he took off one of these 
covers, and disclosed to me the cavity filled with a 
frothy liquid, of the faintest straw tinge, looking 
like delicate Sauterne wine. He j^resented me with 
a piece of reed, and with a gratified air motioned 
me to drink. My early experiments with straws, in 
the cider-barrels of New England, recurred to me 
at once, and I laughed to think that I had come to 
repeat them under the tropics. I found the juice 
sweet, and slightly pungent, but altogether rich, 
dehcious, and invigorating. As may be sujDposed, 
I paid frequent visits to Antonio's reservoirs. 

This palm bears the name of coyol among the 



VINO DE COYOL. 165 

Spaniards, and of cockatruce among the Mosquitos. 
Its juice is called by the former Vino de Coyol, 
and by the Indians generally Ghicha (cheecJiee) — a 
name, however, which is applied to a variety of 
drinks. When the tree is cut down, the end is 
plastered with mud, to prevent the juice, with 
which the core is saturated, from exuding. A hole 
is then cut near the top, as I have described, in 
which the liquid is gradually distilled, filling the 
reservoir in the course of ten or twelve hours. This 
reservoir may be emptied daily, and yet be con- 
stantly replenished, it is said, for upward of a 
month. On the third day, if the tree be exposed to 
the sun, the juice begins to ferment, and gradually 
grows stronger, until, at the end of a couple of weeks, it 
becomes intoxicating — thus affording to the Sambos 
a ready means of getting up the " big drunk." The 
Spaniards affirm that the " vino de coyol" is a spe- 
cific for indigestion and pains in the stomach. 

The nuts of this variety of palm grow in large 
clusters. They are round, containing a very solid 
kernel, so saturated with oil as to resemble refined 
wax. It is in all respects superior to the ordinary 
cocoa-nut oil, and might be obtained in any desir- 
able quantity, if means could be devised for separat- 
ing the kernel from the shell. This shell is thick, 
hard, black, capable of receiving the minutest carv- 
ing, and most brilliant polish, and is often worked 
into ornaments by the Indians. 

In the moist depressions, or valleys, near our 
encampment, we also found another variety of 



166 



THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 



palm, whicli often stands the traveler, under the 
tropics, in good stead, as a substitute for other and 
better vegetable food. I mean the Palmetto Royal, 

or Mountain Cahhage (Are- 
ca oleracea), which has 
justly been called the 
" Queen of the Forest." It 
grows to a great height, 
frequently no thicker than 
a man^s thigh, yet rising- 
upward of a hundred and 
fifty feet in the air. N"o 
other tree in the world 
equals it in • height or 
beauty. The trunk swells 
moderately a short distance 
above the root, whence it 
tapers gently to its emerald 
crown, sustaining through- 
out the most elegant pro- 
portions. 

The edible part, or " cab- 
bage" (as it is called, from 
some fancied resemblance 
in taste to that vegetable), 
constitutes the upper part 
of the trunk, whence the 
foliage springs. It resem- 
bles a tall Etruscan vase in shape, of the liveliest 
green color, gently swelling from its pedestal, and 
diminishing gradually to the top, where it expands 




PALMETTO ROYAL. 



PALMETTO ROYAL. 167 

in plume-like branches. From the very centre of 
this natural vase rises a tall, yellowish spatlia, or 
sheath, terminating in a sharp point. At the 
bottom of this, and inclosed in the natural vase 
which I have described, is found a tender white 
core, or heart, varying in size with the dimensions 
of the tree, but usually eight or ten inches in cir- 
cumference. This may be eaten raw, as a salad, 
or, if preferred, fried or boiled. In taste it resem- 
bles an artichoke, rather than a cabbage. 

The Indians climb this palm, and, dexterously 
inserting their knives, contrive to obtain the edible 
part without destroying the tree itself. By means 
of the same contrivance which he made use of in 
obtaining the cocoa-nuts, on the island in Pearl 
Cay Lagoon, Antonio kept us supplied with palm 
cabbages, which were our chief reliance, in the vege- 
table line. I found that they were most palatable 
when properly seasoned, and baked in the ground, 
with some strips of manitee fat, after the manner 
which I have already described. 

The fruits of this tree are small, oblong berries, 
of a purplish blue, about the size of an olive, inclos- 
ing a smooth, brittle nut, which, in turn, covers a 
cartilaginous kernel. 

The pine ridges were not deficient in animal life. 
A few large cotton-trees grew on the edge of the 
mangrove-swamp, which were the nightly resort of 
parrots and paroquets, who came literally in clouds, 
and then the callings, scoldings, frettings, and 
screamings that took place would have drowned the 



168 THE MOSQUI'" ^"ORE. 

confusion of the most vicious rookery extant. In 
the evening and morning it was really difficult for 
us to make each other hear, although our camp was 
distant more than two hundred yards from the 
roosts. The parrots are often eaten by the 
natives, in default of other food, but they are 
tough, hard, dry, and tasteloS'\ Not so, however, 
with the quails, which were not only numerous, 
but so tame, or rather, so unsuspecting, that we 
could catch as many as we wanted, in the simplest 
kind of traps. We adopted this method of pro- 
curing such game as the Poyer boy did not kill 
with his bow, instead of using my gun, the report 
of which might betray us. 

Day by day we extended our excursions farther 
from the camp, every step revealing to me, at least, 
something novel and interesting. I think it was 
the third day after our arrival, when we came upon a 
patch of low ground, or jungle, densely wooded, and 
distant perhaps half a mile from our encampment. 
Attracted by some bright flowers, I penetrated a 
few yards into the bushes, where, to my surprise, I 
came ujDon what appeared to be a well-beaten path, 
which I followed for some distance, wondering over 
the various queer tracks which I observed printed, 
here and there, on the moist ground. While thus 
engaged, I was startled by the sound of some animal 
approaching, with a dull and heavy, but rapid tread. 
Looking up, I saw a lead-colored beast, about the 
size of a large donkey, its head drooping between 
its fore-legs, coming toward me at a swinging trot. 



touch:;' ./the tapir. 169 

Thinking he was charging upon me direct, I leaped 
into the bushes, with the intention of climbing up a 
tree. But before I could effect my object, the 
monster lumbered past, taking not the slightest 
notice of my presence. I breathed freer, when I 
saw his broad buttocks and little pig-like tail disap- 
pearing down the prfih",' and I made my way out of 
the jungle, in a manner probably more expeditious 
than either graceful cr valorous. Antonio, who 
was dodging after a fat currassow, had heard the 
noise, and was witness of my retreat. He seemed 
alarmed at first, but only smiled when I explained 
what I had seen. In fact, he appeared to think it 
rather a good joke, and hurried off to examine the 
tracks. He came back in a few minutes, and re- 
ported that my monster was only a dante, which I 
took to be some kind of Indian lingo for at least a 
hippopotamus, or rhinoceros. 

" We shall have rare sport," he continued, " in 
catching this dante. It will be equal to hunting 
the manitus.'' 

I found, upon inquiry, that the dante is called, 
in the Mosquito dialect, tilba or tapia, which names 
at once suggested tapir, an animal of which I had 
read, but of which I had very vague notions. 

The Poyer boy seemed delighted with the news 
that there was a tapir about, and in less than five 
minutes after, both he and Antonio were sharpen- 
ing their spears and lances, with palpable design on 
my monster's life. They told me that the tapir 
generally keeps quiet during the day, wandering 



ITO THE MOSQUITO S H O K E . 

out at night, usually in fixed haunts and loj the 
same paths, to take exercise and obtain his food. 
I was not a little relieved when they added that he 
never fights with man or beast, but owes his safety 
to his speed, thick hide, and ability to take to the 
water, where he is as much at home as on land, 
swimming or sinking to the bottom at his pleasure. 
He is, nevertheless, a headlong beast, and when 
alarmed or pursued, stops at nothing — vines, 
bushes, trees, rocks, are all the same to him ! 
He would do well for a crest, with the motto, 
'-^ Neck or Nothing r 

In shape, the dante or tapir (sometimes called 
mountain coiv) is something like a hog, but much 
larger. He has a similar arched back ; his head, 
however, is thicker, and comes to a sharp ridge at 
the top. The male has a snout or sort of proboscis 
hanging over the opening of the mouth, something 
like the trunk of an elephant, which he uses in like 
manner. This is wanting in the female. Its ears 
are rounded, bordered with white, and can be drawn 
forward at pleasure ; its legs are thick and stumpy ; 
its fore-feet or hoofs are divided into three parts or 
toes, Avith a sort of false hoof behind ; but the 
hind feet have only three parts or di^^dsions. Its 
tail is short, and marked by a few stiff hairs ; the 
skin so hard and solid as generally to resist a mus- 
ket-ball ; the hair thin and short, of a dusky 
brown ; and along the top of the neck runs a bristly 
mane, which extends over the head and down the 
snout. He has ten cutting-teeth, and an equal 



HUNTING THE TAPIR. 171 

number of grinders in each jaw ; features which 
separate him entirely from the ox-kind, and from 
all other ruminating animals. He lives upon plants 
and roots, and, as I have said, is perfectly harmless 
in disposition. The female produces but one young 
at a birth, of which she is very tender, leading it, 
at an early age, to the water, and instructing it to 
swim. 

This description finished, the reader is ready to 
accompany us in our nocturnal expedition against 
the tapir. Before it became dark, Antonio, accom- 
panied by the boy, went to the thicket which I 
have described, and felled several stout trees across 
the path, in such a manner as to form a kind of 
cul de sac. The design of this was to arrest the 
animal on his return, and enable us to spear him 
before he could break through or disengage himself. 
We went to the spot early in the evening, and, as 
the moon did not rise until late, Antonio caught 
his hat half-full of fire-flies, which served to guide 
us in the bush. He then pulled off their wings and 
scattered them among the fallen trees, where they 
gave light enough to enable us to distinguish ob- 
jects with considerable clearness. Notwithstanding 
Antonio's assurances that the tapir was a member 
of the Peace Society, I could not divest myself of 
the alarm which he had given me in the morning^ 
and I was not at all sorry to find that my compan- 
ions had selected a spot for their abattis, where an 
overhanging tree enabled me to keep out of harm^s 
way, yet near enough to take a sly drive with my 



172 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

lance at the tapir, if he should happen to come that 
way. 

Antonio and the Poyer boy took their stations 
among the fallen trees ; I took mine, and we await- 
ed the dante's pleasure. I strained my eyes in vain 
endeavors to penetrate the gloom, and held my 
breath full half the time to hear the expected tread. 
But we peered, and listened, and waited in vain ; 
the fire-flies crawled away in every direction, and 
yet the tapir obstinately kept away. Finally, the 
moon came up ; and by-and-by it rose above the 
trees — and still no tapir ! 

My seat on the tree became uncomfortable, and 
I instituted a comparison between tapir and 
manitus-hunting, largely to the advantage of the 
latter ; and, finally, when Antonio whispered " He 
is coming !" I felt a wiUful disposition to contradict 
him. But my ear, meanwhile, caught the same 
dull sound which had arrested my attention in the 
morning ; and, a few moments afterward, I could 
make out the beast, in the dim light, driving on at 
the same swinging trot. Eight on he came, heed- 
less and headlong. Crash ! crash ! There was a 
plunge and struggle, and a crushing and trampling 
of branches, then a dull sound of the heavy beast 
strildng against the unyielding trunks of the fallen 
trees. He was now fairly stopped, and with a 
shout my companions drove down upon him with 
their lances, which rung out a sharp metallic sound 
when they struck his thick, hard hide. It was an 
exciting moment, and my eagerness overcoming my 



THE AMBUSCADE. 



173 



prudence, I slipped down the tree, and joined in the 
attack Blow upon blow of the lances, and I could 
feel that mine struck deeply into the flesh, it seemed 
to me into the very vitals of the animal. But the 
strokes only appeared to give him new strength, 
and gathering back, he drove again full upon the 
opposing tree, bearing it down before him. I had 
just leaped upon the trunk, the better to aim my 
lance, and went down with it headlong, almost 
under the feet of the struggling animal, one tramp 






^j^ - 




THE DEATH OF THE TAPIR. 



of whose feet would have crushed me like a worm. 
I could have touched him with my arm, he was so 
near ! I heard the alarmed shriek of Antonio, 
when he saw me fall ; but, in an instant, he leaped 



174 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

to my side, and, shortening his lance, drove it, with 
desperate force, clean through the animal, bring- 
ing him to his knees. This done, he grappled me 
as he might an infant, and before I was aware of 
it, had dragged me clear of the fallen timber. 
The blow of Antonio proved fatal ; the tapir fell 
over on his side, and in a few moments was quite 
dead. 

The Poyer boy was dispatched to the camp for 
fire and pine sphnts, which, stuck in the ground 
around the tapir, answered for torches. By their 
light my companions proceeded to cut up the spoil, 
a tedious operation, which occupied them until day- 
light. I did not wait, but went back to my ham- 
mock, leaving them to finish their work, undis- 
turbed by my questions. 

When I awoke in the morning, I found Antonio 
had the tapir's head baking in the ground, from 
whence rose a hot but fragrant steam.' It proved to 
be very good eating, as did also the feet and the 
neck, but the flesh of the animal in general was 
abominably coarse and insipid, although my com- 
panions seemed to relish it greatly. I found it, like 
that of the manitus, exceedingly laxative. 

Some idea may be formed of the tapir's tenacity 
of life, when I say that I counted upward of thirty 
lance-thrusts in the body of the one we killed, none 
of which were less than six inches deep, and nearly 
all penetrating into the cavity of the body ! It 
rarely happens, therefore, that the animal is kiUed 
by the individual hunter. The hide is quite as 



ANTICS OF THE ANTS. 175 

thick, and I think harder than that of the nianitus, 
which, when dried, it closely resembles. 

I should weary the reader were I to enter into all 
the details of our life at the ^' Tapir Camp/' as I 
called it, in honor of the exploit I have just re- 
counted. During the eight days which we spent 
there, I learned more of nature and her works than 
I had known before. I spent hours in watching the 
paths of the black ants, tracing them to their nests 
in the trees, which were dark masses, as large as a 
barrel, made up of fragments of leaves cemented 
together. From these paths, which were from four 
to six inches wide, all grass, leaves, sticks, and 
other obstructions, had been removed, and along 
them poured an unbroken column of ants, thousands 
on thousands, those bound from the nest hurrying 
down one side of the path, and those bound in, each 
carrying aloft a piece of green leaf, perhaps half an 
inch square — a mimic army with banners — hurry- 
ing up the other. I amused myself, sometimes, by 
putting obstructions across the path, and watching 
the surging up of the interrupted columns. Then 
could be seen fleet couriers hurrying off to the nest, 
and directly the path would be crowded with a 
heavy reenforcement, invariably headed by eight or 
ten ants of larger size, who appeared to be the en- 
gineers of the establishment. These would climb 
over and all around the obstruction, apparently cal- 
culating the chances of effecting its removal. If 
not too heavy, th6y disposed their regiments, and 
dragged it away by a grand simultaneous effort. 



176 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

But if, on examination, they thought its removal 
impossible, they hurried to lay out a road around it, 
clearing away the grass, leaves, twigs, and pebbles 
with consummate skill, each column working toward 
the other. The best drilled troops could not go 
more systematically and intelligently to work, nor 
have executed their task with greater alacrity and 
energy. No sooner was it done, than, putting 
themselves at the head of their workies, the engi- 
neers hastened back as they came, ready to obey 
the next requisition upon their strength and skill. 

Here I may mention that there is no end of ants 
under the tropics. They swarm every where, of un- 
numbered varieties — from little creatures, of micro- 
scopic proportions, to those of the size of our wasp. 
It is always necessary, when on land, to hang one's 
provisions by cords from the branches of trees, or 
they would literally be eaten up in a single night. 
There is one variety, called the Jiormegas, by the 
Spaniards, which has an insatiate appetite for 
leather, especially boots, and will eat them full of 
holes in a few hours. All the varieties of acacias 
teem with a small red, or " fire ant,'' whose bite is 
like the prick of a red-hot needle. The unfortunate 
traveler who gets them in any considerable numbers 
on his person, is driven to distraction for the time 
being. It is difficult to imagine keener torment. 

Thousands of small, light-colored bees gathered 
round the fallen trunks of the coyol-palms, to col- 
lect the honey-like liquid that exuded here and 
there, as the juice began to ferment. I soon ascer- 



TAPIR CAMP. 177 

tained that they were stingless, and amused myself 
in watching their industrious zeal. I gradually 
came to observe that when each had gathered his 
supply, he rose, by a succession of circuits, high in 
the air, and then darted off in a certain direction. 
Carefully watching their course, I finally traced 
them to a low, twisted tree, on the edge of the 
swamp, in the hollow of which they had their de- 
pository. Of course, I regarded this as a fortunate 
discovery, and we were not slow to turn it to our 
advantage. I had less scruples in cutting down the 
tree, and turning the busy little dwellers out on the 
world, since they had no winter to provide for, and 
could easily take care of themselves. The supply 
of honey proved to . be very small, and seemed to 
have been collected chiefly for the support of the 
young bees. We obtained only four bottles full 
from the tree. In taste it proved to be very unlike 
our northern honey, having a sharp, pungent, half- 
fermented flavor, causing, when eaten pure, a chok- 
ing contraction of the muscles of the throat. An- 
tonio mixed some of it with the '^ vino de coyol,'' 
which, after fermentation, produced a very delicious, 
but strong, and most intoxicating kind of liqueur. 

On the afternoon of the eighth day, the moon 
having reached her last quarter, we packed our 
little boat, and just as the night fell, worked our 
way slowly through the little, obstructed canal to 
the lagoon, which now expanded to the north. We 
paddled boldly through the middle, the better to 
avoid observation from the shore. The night was 

8* 



178 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

dark, but wonderfully still, and I could hear dis- 
tinctly the sound of drums and revelry from the 
villages on the eastern shore, although they must 
have been fully three miles distant. 

I left " Tapir Camp" with real regret. The days 
had glided by tranquilly, and I had enjoyed a calm 
content, to which I had before been a stranger. 
For the first time, I was able to comprehend the 
feehng, gathering strength with every day, which 
induces men, sometimes the most brilhant and pros- 
perous, to banish themselves from the world, and 
seek, in utter retirement, the peace which only flows 
from a direct converse with nature, and an earnest 
r self-communion. 




LONG the coast, from the Prinza- 
pulka river northward, as I have 
said, stretches a net-work of rivers 
and lagoons, for a distance of at least one hundred 
and fifty miles, terminating near Cape Gracias. 
These lagoons are broad and shallow, and bordered 
by extensive marshes. Wherever the dry ground 
does appear, strange to say, it is generally as a 
sandy savannah, undulating, and supporting few 
trees except the red, or long-leaved pine. These 
savannahs are only adapted for grazing, since the 
soil is too light and poor for cultivation, and fails to 
support any of the staple products, or any of the 
many esculent vegetables of the tropics, except the 
cassava. And although the few scattered inhabit- 



180 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

ants of the Mosquito Shore, above the Prinza- 
pulka, live upon the borders of the lagoons, select- 
ing generally the savannahs for their villages, it 
is because they are essentially fishers, and derive 
their principal support from the sea. The islands 
of the coast abound with turtle, and the rivers, 
creeks, and lagoons teem with fish of nearly every 
variety known under the tropics. The few vegeta- 
bles which they require are obtained from the 
banks of the rivers in the back country, where the 
streams flow through their proper valleys^ and be- 
fore they are lost in the low grounds of the coast. 
The plantations on these rivers belong to the In- 
dians proper, whose numbers increase toward the 
interior, and who supply the Sambos, or coast-men, 
not only with vegetables, but also with the various 
kinds of boats which are used by them, receiving in 
exchange a few cottons, axes, trinkets, and other 
articles which are brought by the foreign traders. 
The character and habits of these Indians are 
widely different from those of the coast-men. The 
latter are drunken, idle, and vicious, while the 
former are mild, industrious, and temperate. The 
differences which I have indicated between the In- 
dian settlement on the Kio Grande and the Sambo 
village of Wasswatla, hold equally true throughout, 
except that the farther the traveler proceeds north- 
ward from Bluefields, the more debased and brutal 
the Sambos become. 

In attempting to thread my way through the 
maze of waters before us, I kept the facts which I 



LAGOON LIFE. 183 

have recounted constantly in view^ and sought 
rather to penetrate inland, than diverge toward the 
coast. So, whenever two or more channels pre- 
sented themselves, I universally took the inside 
one. This frequently led us into the rivers flowing 
from the interior, hut their current speedily enabled 
us to correct these mistakes. 

No^ incident relieved the monotony of our first 
night, after leaving " Tapir Camp." Toward morn- 
ing we paddled into the first opening in the man- 
groves that held out promise of concealment. We 
had the usual difficulties to encounter — fallen trees, 
and overhanging limbs ; but when the morning 
broke we had worked our way to a spot where the 
creek expanded into a kind of subordinate lagoon, 
very shallow, and full of sandy islets, partly covered 
with grass and water-plants. At one spot on the 
shore the ground was elevated a few feet, support- 
ing a number of large and ancient trees, heavily 
draped with vines, under which we encamped. 

After a very frugal meal, my hammock was sus- 
pended between the trees, and I went to sleep. 
About noon I awoke, and spent the rest of the day 
in watching the various forms of animal life which 
found support in these secluded wilds. It seemed 
to me as if all the aquatic birds of the world were 
congregated there, in harmonious conclave. Long- 
shanked herons, with their necks drawn in, and 
their yellow bills resting on their breasts, stood 
meditatively on a single leg ; troops of the white and 
scarlet ibis trotted actively along the open sands ; 



184 . THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

and round-tailed darters^ with their snaky necks 
and quick eyes^ alighted in the trees around us — 
the only birds of all that assemblage which seemed 
to notice our intrusion ! Then there were cranes, 
and gaudy, awkward spoon-bills (clownish million- 
aires !) and occasionally a little squadron of blue- 
winged teal paddled gracefully by. 

Overhead, a few noisy macaws sheltered them- 
selves from the noon-day heats. Among these, I 
saw, for the first time, the green variety, a more 
modest, and, to my taste, a far more beautiful bird, 
than his gaudier cousin. The large trees to which 
I have alluded, were of the variety known as the 
ceiha, or silk-cotton tree. They were now in their 
bloom, and crowned with a profusion of flowers of 
rich and variegated colors, but chiefly a bright car- 
nation. It was a novel spectacle to see a gigantic 
tree, five or six feet in diameter, and eighty or 
ninety feet high, sending out long and massive 
limbs, yet bearing flowers like a rose-bush — a sort 
of man-milliner ! Viewed from beneath, the flow- 
ers wer-e scarcely visible, but their fragrance was 
overpowering, and the ground was carpeted with 
their gay leaves and delicate petals. But seen 
from a little distance, the ceiba-tree in bloom is one 
of the most splendid productions of Nature — a gi- 
gantic bouquet, which requires a whole forest to sup- 
ply the contrasting green ! The flowers are rapidly 
succeeded by a multitude of pods, which grow to 
the size and shape of a goose-egg. When ripe, they 
burst open, revealing the interior filled with a very 



CEIBA-TREE AND RAIN-PLANT. 185 

soft, light cotton or silky fibre, attached as floats to 
diminutive seeds, which are thus wafted far and 
wide by the winds. This process is rej)eated three 
times a year. I am not aware that the cotton has 
ever been manufactured, or applied to any more 
useful purpose than that of stuffing pillows and 
mattresses. 

The trunk of the ceiba, however, is invaluable to 
the natives. The wood is easily worked, and is, 
moreover, light and buoyant, and not liable to split 
by exposure to the sun. For these reasons, it is 
principally used for dories, pitpanSj and the differ- 
ent varieties of boats required on the coast, al- 
though, for the smaller canoes, the cedar and ma- 
hogany are sometimes substituted. The mahogany 
boats, however, are rather heavy, while the cedar is 
liable to split in what is called ^^ beaching." I have 
seen dories hollowed from a single trunk of the ce- 
bia, in which a tall man might comfortably He at 
length across the bottom, and which were capable 
of carrying fifty persons. 

But the ceihas of our encampment supported, 
besides their own verdure, a mass of lianes or 
climbers, of many varieties, as also, numerous par- 
asitic plants, and among them the wild-pine or rain- 
plant, which served us a most useful purpose. Sev- 
eral of these grew in the principal forks of the trees, 
to the height of from four to six feet. Their leaves 
are broad, and wrap round on themselves, like a 
roll, forming reservoirs, in which the rain and dew 
is collected and retained, safe from sun and wind. 



186 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

Each, leaf will hold about a quart of water, wMcli 
looks clear and tempting in its green, translucent 
goblet. Had it not been for the rain-plant, we 
would have suffered very often from thirst, among 
those brackish lagoons, where fresh water is ob- 
tained with difficulty. 

"With the night, we resumed our stealthy course 
to the northward, guided by the familiar north star, 
which here, however, circles so low in the horizon, 
as hardly to be visible above the trees. The long 
and narrow lagoon contracted more and more, until 
it presented a single channel, perhaps a hundred 
yards wide, closely lined with mangroves, which, 
rising like a wall on both sides, prevented us from 
making out the character of the back country. In 
passing through some of the numerous bends, I 
nevertheless caught star-light glimpses of distant 
hills, and high grounds in the direction of the in- 
terior. The channel soon began to trend to the 
north-east, and there was a considerable current in 
that direction. I was concerned lest, notwithstand- 
ing all my caution, I had lost the clew to the la- 
goons, and taken some one of the outlets into the 
sea. We nevertheless kept on, steadily and rapidly, 
discovering no signs of habitations on the banks, 
until Qear morning, when my suspicions were con- 
firmed by a monotonous sound, which I had no dif- 
ficulty in recognizing as the beating of the sea. I 
was therefore greatly relieved when the narrow 
channel, which T\^e were traversing, expanded sud- 
denly into a beautiful lagoon, which I subsequently 



TONGLA LAGOON. 187 

ascertained was called " Tongla Lagoon/' It is 
triangular in shape^ extending off to the north- 
west. 

I was weary of dodging the Sambos^ and deter- 
mined, as the wind was blowing fresh, to put up 
our sail, and standing boldly through the lagoon, 
take the risk of recognition and pursuit. There 
never was a brighter day on earth, and our little 
boat seemed emulous to outstrip the wind. Gather- 
ing confidence from our speed, I got out my fishing 
line, and, attaching a bit of cotton cloth to the 
hook, trailed it after the boat. It had hardly 
touched the water before it was caught by a kind 
of rock-fish, called snapper by the English resi- 
dents, and cowatucker by the Mosquitos. It is only 
from ten to twelve inches in length, but broad and 
heavy. Antonio recognized it as one of the best of 
the small fishes, and I continued the sport of catch- 
ing them, until it would have been wanton waste to 
have taken more. I found them to be of two 
varieties, the red and black, of which the latter 
proved to be the most delicate. I also caught two 
fish of a larger kind, called haracouta, each about 
twenty inches in length, resembling our blue-fish. 
It is equally ravenous, and has a like firm and pal- 
atable flesh. I am not sure that it is not the true 
blue-fish, although I afterward caught some in the 
Bay of Honduras which were between three and 
four feet in length. 

In order to get the full benefit of the land-breeze, 
we kept well over to the seaward or eastern side 



188 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

of the lagoon. As the lagoon narrowed, our course 
gradually brought us close in shore. I had observed 
some palm-trees on the same side of the lagoon, but 
the ground seemed so low, and tangled with ver- 
dure, that I doubted if the trees indicated, as they 
usually do, a village at their feet. I nevertheless 
maintained a sharp look-out, and kept the boat as 
near to the wind as possible, so as to slip by with- 
out observation. It was not until we were abreast 
of the palms, that I saw signs of human habita- 
tions. But then I made out a large number of 
canoes drawn up in a little bay, and, through a nar- 
row vista in the trees, saw distinctly a considerable 
collection of huts. There were also several of the 
inhabitants moving about among the canoes. 

I observed also that our boat had attracted atten- 
tion, and that a number of men were hurrying down 
to the shore. I was in hopes that they would be 
content with regarding us from a distance, and was 
not a little annoyed when I saw two large boats 
push from the landing. We did not stop to specu- 
late upon their purposes, but shook out every thread 
of our little sail, and each taking a paddle, we fell 
to work with a determination of giving our pursuers 
as pretty a chase as ever came off on the Mosquito 
Shore. It was now three o'clock in the afternoon, 
and I felt confident that we could not be overtaken, 
if at all, before night, and then it would be com- 
paratively easy to elude them. 

Our pursuers had no sails, but their boats were 
larger, and numerously manned by men more used 



THE chase! 



189 



to the paddle than either Antonio or myself. While 
the wind lasted, we rather increased onr distance, 
but as the sun went down the breeze dechned, and 
our sail became useless. So we were obliged to 




THE CHASE ON TONGLA LAGOON. 



take it in, and trust to our paddles, alone. This 
gave our pursuers new courage, and I could hear 
their shouts echoed back from the shores. When 
night fell they had shortened their distance to less 
than half what it had been at the outset, and were 
so near that we could almost make out their words ; 
for, during quiet nights, on these lagoons, voices 
can be distinguished at the distance of a mile. The 
lagoon narrowed more and more, and was evidently 
getting to be as contracted as the channel by which 
we had entered. This was against us ; for, al- 
though we had almost lost sight of our pursuers in 
the gathering darkness, our safety depended entirely 
upon our slipping, unobserved, into some narrow 
creek. But we strained our eyes in vain, to discover 



190 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

such a retreat. The mangroves presented one dark, 
unbroken front. 

The conviction was now forced upon me that, in 
spite of all our efforts to avoid it, we were to be 
involved in a second fight. I laid aside my paddle, 
and got out my gun. And now I experienced again 
the same ague-like sensations which I have de- 
scribed as preceding our struggle on the Prinza- 
pulka. It required the utmost effort to keep my 
teeth from chattering audibly. I had a singular 
and painful sensation of fullness about the heart. 
So decided were all these phenomena, that, not- 
withstanding our danger, I felt glad it was so dark 
that my companions could not see my weakness. 
But soon the veins in my temples began to swell 
with blood, pulsating with tense sharpness, like the 
vibration of a bow-string ; and then the muscles 
became rigid, and firm as iron. I was ready for 
blood 1 Twice only have I experienced these terri- 
ble sensations, and God grant that they may never 
agonize my nerves again ! 

Our enemies were now so near that I was on the 
point of venturing a random long shot at them, 
when, with a suppressed exclamation of joy, Anto- 
nio suddenly turned our canoe into a narrow creek, 
where the mangroves separated, like walls, on either 
side. Where we entered, it was scarcely twenty 
feet wide, and soon contracted to ten or twelve. 
We glided in rapidly for perhaps two hundred 
yards, when Antonio stopped to listen. I heard 
nothing, and gave the word to proceed. But the 



SUCCESSFUL DEVICE. 191 

crafty Indian said " No ;" and, carefully leaning 
over the edge of the boat, plunged his head in the 
water. He held it there a few seconds, then started 
up, exclaiming, " They are coming \" Again we 
bent to the paddles, and drove the boat up the 
narrow creek with incredible velocity. 

I was so eager to get a shot at our pursuers that 
I scarcely comprehended what he meant, when, 
stopping suddenly, Antonio pressed his paddle in 
my hands, and, exchanging a few hurried words 
with the Poyer boy, each took a machete in his 
mouth, and leaped overboard. I felt a sudden 
suspicion that they had deserted me, and remained 
for the time motionless. A moment after, they 
called to me from the shore, " Paddle ! paddle !'' 
and, at the same instant, I heard the blows of their 
machetes ringing on the trunks of the mangroves. 
I at once comprehended that they were felling trees 
across the narrow creek, to obstruct the pursuit ; 
and I threw aside the paddle, and took my gun 
again, determined to protect my devoted friends, at 
any hazard. I never forgave myself for my mo- 
mentary but ungenerous distrust ! 

Our pursuers heard the sound of the blows, and, 
no doubt comprehending what was going on, raised 
loud shouts, and redoubled their speed. Kling ! 
Ming ! rang the machetes on the hard wood ! Oh, 
how I longed to hear the crash of the falling trees ! 
Soon one of them began to crackle — another blow, 
and down it fell, the trunk splashing gloriously in 
the water ! Another crackle, a rapid rustling of 



192 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 

brandies, and another sjolash. in the water ! It was 
our turn to shout now ! 

I gave Antonio and the Poyer boy each a hearty em- 
brace, as, dripping with water, they clambered back 
into our little boat. We now pushed a few yards up the 
stream, stopped close to the slimy bank, and awaited 
our pursuers. " Come on, now," I shouted, " and 
not one of you shall pass that rude barrier alive V 

The first boat ran boldly up to the fallen trees, 
but the discharge of a single barrel of my gun sent 
it back, precipitately, out of reach. We could 
distinguish a hurried conversation between the 
occupants of the first boat and of the second, when 
the latter came up. It did not last long, and when 
it stopped, Antonio, in a manner evincing more 
alarm' than he had ever before exhibited, caught 
me by the arm, and explained hurriedly that the 
second boat was going back, and that the narrow 
creek, in which we were, no doubt communicated 
with the principal channel by a second mouth. 
While one boat was thus blockading us in front, 
the second was hastening to assail us in the rear ! 
I comprehended the movement at once. Our delib- 
eration was short, for our lives might depend upon 
an improvement of the minutes. Stealthily, scarce 
daring to breathe, yet with the utmost rapidity 
possible, we pushed up the creek. As Antonio had 
conjectured, it soon began to curve back toward 
the estuary. We had pursued our course perhaps 
ten or fifteen minutes — they seemed hours ! — when 
we overheard the approach of the second boat. 



FINAL ESCAPE. 193 

We at once drew ours close to the bank, in the 
glooroiest covert we could find. On came the boat, 
the paddlers, secure of the success of their device, 
straining: themselves to the utmost. There was a 
moment of keen suspense, and, to our inexpressible 
relief, the boat passed by us. We now resumed 
our paddles, and hastened on our course. But before 
we entered the principal channel, my companions 
clambered into the overhanging mangroves, and in 
an incredibly short space of time had fallen other 
trees across the creek, so as completely to shut in 
the boat which had attempted to surprise us. 

The device was successful ; we soon emerged from 
the creek, and the sea-breeze having now set in, 
favorably to our course, we were able to put up our 
sail, and defy pursuit. We saw nothing afterward 
of our eager friends of Tongla Lagoon ! 

Some time past midnight we came to another and 
larger lagoon, called " Wava Lagoon," and, weary 
and exhausted from nearly two days of wakefulness, 
hard labor, and excitement, we ran our boat ashore 
on a little island, which presented itself, and drag- 
ged it up into the bushes. We kindled a fire, cook- 
ed our fish, and then I lay down in the canoe, and 
went to sleep. I had entire confidence that we 
would not be pursued further, as we were now a 
long way from the coast, and in the country of the 
unmixed Indians, who, so far from recognizing the 
assumptions of the Sambos, hold an attitude so de- 
cidedly hostile toward them that the latter seldom 
venture into their territory. 

9 



194 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

I awoke near noon, but unrefreshed, with, a dull 
pain in my head, a sensation of chilliness, great las- 
situde, and an entire absence of appetite. Had 
our encampment been more favorable, I sbould not 
have attempted to move ; but tbe island was small, 
without water, and, moreover, too near the channel 
leading to Tongla Lagoon to be a desirable resting- 
place. So we embarked about midday, and stood 
across the lagoon for its western shore, where the 
ground appeared to rise rapidly, and high blue 
mountains appeared in the distance. The sun 
shone out clearly, and the day was sultry, but my 
chilliness increased momentarily, and, in less than 
an hour after leaving the island, I found myself 
lying in the bottom of the canoe, wrapped in my 
blanket, and for the first time in my life, suffering 
from the ague. The attack lasted for full two 
hours, and was followed by a bursting pain in my 
head, and a higb fever. I had also dull pains in 
my back and limbs, which were more difficult to be 
borne than others more acute. 

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Antonio put 
i:he boat in shore — for I was too ill to give direc- 
tions — where a bluff point ran out into the lagoon, 
forming a small bay, with a smooth, sandy beach. 
A little savannah, similar to that which I have de- 
scribed at Tapir Camp, extended back from the 
bluff, near the centre of which, at its highest point, 
which commanded a beautiful view of the lagoon, 
rose a single clump of pines. Here my companions 



FEVER CAMP. 195 

carried me in my hammock^ and here they hastily 
arranged our camp. 

When the sun went down, my fever subsided, 
but was followed by a profuse and most debilitating 
sweat. Meantime Antonio had collected a few nuts 
of a kind which, I afterward ascertained, is called 
by the English of the West Indies physic-nut 
(Jatropha), which grows on a low bush, on all parts 
of the coast. These he rapidly prepared, and admin- 
istered them to me. They operated powerfully, both 
as an emetic and cathartic. When their effects had 
ceased, I fell asleep, and slept until morning, when 
I awoke weak, but free from pain, or any other symp- 
tom of illness. I congratulated myself and An- 
tonio, but he dampened my spirits sensibly by ex- 
plaining that, however well I might feel for that 
day, I would be pretty sure to have a recurrence of 
fever on the next. And to mitigate the severity of 
this, if not entirely to prevent it, he presented to me 
a calabash of reddish-looking liquid, which he called 
cincJiona, and told me to drink deeply. Heavens ! I 
shall never forget the bitter draught, which he com- 
mended to my unwilling lips every two hours during 
that black day in my calendar ! I know what it is 
now, for my Mosquito experiences have entailed 
upon me a sneaking fever and ague, which avails 
itself of every pretext to remind me that we are in- 
separable. Looking to my extensive consumption 
of quinine, I have marveled, since my return, that 
the price of the drug has not been doubled ! Others 
may look at the stock quotations, but my principal 



1^j6 the mosquito shore. 

interest in the commercial department of the morn- 
ing paper, is the " ruling rate" of quinine I Not 
having, as yet, discovered any considerable advance, 
I begin to doubt the dogma of the economists, that 
" the price is regulated by the demand." 

Antonio was right. The next day came, and at 
precisely twelve o'clock came also the chill, the 
fever, the dull pains, and the perspiration, but all in 
a more subdued form. I escaped the physic-nuts, 
but the third day brought a new supply of the bit- 
ter liquid, which Antonio told me was decocted 
from bark taken from the roots of a species of 
mangrove-tree. I have never seen it mentioned 
that the cinchona is found in Central America, but, 
nevertheless, it is there, or something so nearly like 
it, in taste and effects, as to be undistinguishable. 
Thin slips of the bark, put into a bottle of rum, 
made a sort of cordial or bitters, of which I took 
about a wine-glassful every morning and evening, 
during the remainder of my stay on the coast, with 
beneficial results. 

I had three recurrences of the fever, but the sun 
passed the meridian on the sixth day without bring- 
ing with it an attack — thanks to the rude but effect- 
ive " healing art " of my Indian companions. Ex- 
perience had taught them about all, I think, that 
has ever been learned in the way of treatment of 
indigenous complaints. It is only exotic diseases, or 
sweeping epidemics, that carry death and desolation 
among the aborigines, whose ignorance of their na- 
ture and remedies invests them with a terror which 



PBIMITIVE PHYSIC. 197 

enhances the mortality. Not only was the treat- 
ment to which I was subjected thoroughly correct, 
but the dieting was perfect. The only food that 
was given to me consisted of the seeds of the okra 
(which is indigenous on the coast), flavored by 
being boiled with the legs and wings of quails, and 
small bits of dried manitee flesh. I only outraged 
the notions of my rude physicians in one respect, 
viz., in insisting on being allowed to wash myself. 
The Indians seem to think that the effect of water 
on the body, or any part of it, during the period of 
a fever, is little less than mortal — a singular notion, 
which may have some foundation in experience, if 
not in reason. The Spaniards, wisely or foolishly, 
entertain the same prejudice ; and, furthermore, 
shut themselves up closely in dark rooms, when at- 
tacked by fever. At such times they scarcely com- 
mend themselves pleasantly to any of the senses. 

From the open, airy elevation where our camp 
was established, as I have already said, we had an 
extensive and beautiful view of the lagoon. We 
saw canoes, at various times, skirting the western 
shore, and, from the smoke which rose at intervals, 
we were satisfied that there were there several Indian 
villages. As soon, therefore, as I thought myself re- 
covered from my fever, which was precisely at one 
o'clock past meridian, on the sixth day (the fever 
due at noon not having " come to time"), I was 
ready to proceed to the Indian towns. But our de-^ 
parture was delayed for two days more by an un- 
fortunate occurrence, which came near depriving 



198 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 

the Poyer "boy of Ms life, and me of a valuable as- 
sistant ; for, while Antonio was supreme on land, 
the Poyer boy was the leader on the water. I al- 
ways called him — Mosquito fashion — " admiral." 

It seems that, while engaged in gathering dry 
wood, he took hold of a fallen branch, under which 
was coiled a venomous snake, known as the tama- 
gasa (called by the Englisb tommy-goff, and the 
Mosquitos piuta-su^^a, or the poison snake). He 
had scarcely put down his hand when it struck 
him in the arm. He killed it, grasped it by the 
tail, and hurried to our camp. I was much alarm- 
ed, for his agitation was extreme, and his face and 
whole body of an ashy color. Antonio was not at 
hand, and I was at an utter loss what to do, beyond 
tying a ligature tightly around the arm. The 
Poyer, however, retained his presence of mind, and, 
unrolling a mysterious little bundle, which con- 
tained his scanty wardrobe, took out a nut of about 
the size and much the appearance of a horse-chest- 
nut, which he hastily crushed, and, mixing it with 
water, drank it down. By this time Antonio had 
returned, and, learning the state of the case, seized 
his machete, and hastened away to the low grounds 
on the edge of the savannah, whence he came back, 
in the course of half an hour, with a quantity of 
some kind of root, of which I have forgotten the 
Indian name. It had a strong smeU of musk, im- 
possible to distinguish from that of the genuine 
civet. This he crushed, and formed into a kind of 
poultice, bound it on the wounded arm, and gave the 



ABOUT SNAKES. 199 

boy to drink a strong infusion of the same. This 
done, he led him down to the beach, dug a hole in 
the moist sand, in which he buried his arm to the 
shoulder, pressing the sand closely around it. I 
thought this an emphatic kind of treatment, which 
might be good for Indians, but which would be 
pretty sure to kill white men. The boy remained 
with his arm buried during the entire night, but, 
next morning, barring being a little pale and weak 
from the effects of these powerful remedies, he was 
as well as ever, and resumed his usual occupations. 
A light blue scratch alone indicated the place 
where he had been bitten. 

The tamagasa (a specimen of which I subse- 
quently obtained, and which now occupies a distin- 
guished place among the reptiles in the Philadel- 
phia Academy), is about two feet long. It is of 
the thickness of a man's thumb, with a large, flat 
head, and a lump in the neck something like that of 
the cobra, and is marked with alternate black and 
dusky white rings. It is reputed one of the most 
venomous serpents under the tropics, ranking next 
to the beautiful, but deadly corral. 



^^^•\.^ 




our misfortunes, I named our 
encampment, on Wava Lagoon, 
"Fever Camp," although so far 
from contracting the fever there, I am sure it was 
its open and elevated position which contributed to 
my recovery. The fever was rather due to over-ex- 
ertion, and exposure at night ; for the night-damps, 
on all low coasts under the tropics, are unquestion- 
ably deadly, and the traveler cannot be too careful 
in avoiding them. Early in the afternoon of the 
day of our departure from " Fever Camp," we en- 
tered a large stream, flowing into the lagoon from 
the north-west, upon the banks of which, judging 
from the direction of the smoke we had seen, the 
Indian villages were situated. We were not mis- 
taken. Before night we came to a village larger 



TOWKAS VILLAGE. 201 

than that on the Kio Grande, but in other respects 
much the same, except that it stood upon the edge 
of an extensive savannah, instead of on the skirt of 
an impenetrable forest. Around it were extensive 
plantations of cassava, and other fruits and vege- 
tables, growing in the greatest luxuriance, and indi- 
cating that the soil of the inland savannahs does not 
share the aridity of those nearer the coast. This 
was further evinced by the scarcity of pines, 
which were only to be seen on the ridges or gentle 
elevations with which the surface of the savannah 
was diversified. 

Our appearance here created the same excite- 
ment which it had occasioned at the other places we 
had visited, and our reception was much the same 
with that which we had experienced on the Rio 
Grande. Instead, however, of being met by men 
with wands, we were welcomed by ^ve old men, one 
of whom vacated his own hut for our accommoda- 
tion. None here could speak either English or 
Spanish intelligibly, but the affinity between their 
language and that of my Poyer enabled him to 
make known our wants, and obtain all useful infor- 
mation. We were treated hospitably, but with the 
utmost reserve, and during my whole stay, but a 
single incident relieved the monotony of the village. 
This was a marriage — and a very ceremonious affair 
it was. 

These Indians, I should explain, are called Tow- 
kas, or Toacas, and have, I presume, all the general 
characteristics and habits of the Cookras and Wool- 

9* 



202 



THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 



was. These do, in fact, constitute a single family, 
although displaying dialectical differences in their 
language. 




TOWKAS INDIANS. 



Among all these Indians, polygamy is an excep- 
tion, while among the Sambos it is the rule. The 
instances are few in which a man has more than one 
wife, and in these cases the eldest is not only the 
head of the family, hut exercises a strict supervision 
over the others. The betrothals are made at a very 
early age, by the parents, and the affianced children 
are marked in a corresponding manner, so that one 
acquainted with the practice can always point out 
the various mates. These marks consist of little 
bands of colored cotton, worn either on the arm, 
above the elbow, or on the leg, below the knee, 
which are varied in color and number, so that no- 
two combinations in the village shall be the same. 
The combinations are made by the old men, who take 



A TOWKA MAREIAGE. 203 

care that there shall be no confusion. The bands 
are replaced from time to time, as they become 
worn and faded. Both boys and girls also wear a 
necklace of variously-colored shells or beads, to 
which one is added yearly. When the necldace of 
the boy counts ten beads or shells, he is called 
"muhasal^ a word signifying three things, viz., ten, 
,all the fingers, and lialf-a-man. When they number 
twenty, he is called 'all, a word which also signifies 
three things, ms., twenty, both fingers and toes, 
and a man. And he is then eifectively regarded as 
a man. Should his affianced, by that time, have 
reached the age of fifteen, the marriage ceremony 
takes place without delay. 

As I have said, a sleek young Towka was called 
upon to add the final bead to his string, and take 
upon himself the obligations of manhood, during 
my stay at the village. The event had been an- 
ticipated by the preparation of a canoe full of 
palm-wine, mixed with crushed plantains, and a 
little honey, which had been fermenting, to the 
utter disgust of my nostrils, from the date of my 
arrival. The day was observed as a general holiday. 
Early in the morning all the men of the village as- 
sembled, and with their knives carefully removed 
every blade of grass which had grown up inside of 
a circle, perhaps a hundred feet in diameter, situ- 
ated in the very centre of the village, and indicated 
by a succession of stones sunk in the ground. The 
earth was then trampled smooth and hard, after 
which they proceeded to erect a little hut in the 



2.04 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 

very centre of the circular area, above a large flat 
stone which was iDcrmanently planted there. This 
hut was made conical, and perfectly close, except 
an opening at the top, and another at one side, 
toward the east, which was temporarily closed with 
a mat, woven of palm-hark. I looked in without 
hinderance, and saw, piled up on the stone, a quan- 
tity of the dry twigs of the copal-tree, covered with 
the gum of the same. The canoe full of liquor was 
dragged up to the edge of the circle, and literally 
covered with small white calabashes, of the size of 
an ordinary coffee-cup. 

At noon, jDrecisely, all the people of the village 
hurried, without order, to the hut of the bride- 
groom's father. I joined in the crowd. We found 
the " happy swain '' arrayed in his best, sitting de- 
murely upon a bundle of articles, closely wrapped in 
a mat. The old men, to whom I have referred, 
formed in a line in front of him, and the eldest 
made him a short address. When he had fin- 
ished, the next followed, until each had had his 
say. The youth then got up quietly, shouldered 
his bundle, and, preceded by the old men, and 
followed by his father, marched off to the hut 
of the prospective bride. He put down his load 
before the closed door, and seated himself upon it 
in silence. The father then rapped at the door, 
which was partly opened by an old woman, who 
asked him what he wanted, to which he made some 
reply which did not appear to be satisfactory, when 
the door was shut in his face, and he took his seat 



PRESENTS PROPIATORY. 205 

beside Ms son. One of the old men then rapped, 
with precisely the same result, then the next, and 
so on. But the old women were obdurate. The 
bridegroom's father tried it again, but the she- 
dragons would not open the door. The old men 
then seemed to hold a council, at the end of which 
a couple of drums (made, as I have already ex- 
plained, by stretching a raw skin over a section of a 
hollow tree), and some rude flutes were sent for. 
The latter were made of pieces of bamboo, and were 
shaped somewhat like flageolets, each having a 
mouth-piece, and four stops. The sound was dull 
and monotonous, although not wholly unmusical. 

Certain musicians now appeared, and at once 
commenced playing on these instruments, breaking 
out, at long intervals, in a kind of supplicatory 
chant. After an hour or more of this soothing and 
rather sleepy kind of music, the inexorable door 
opened a little, and one of the female inmates 
glanced out with much affected timidity. Here- 
upon the musicians redoubled their efforts, and the 
bridegroom hastened to unroll his bundle. It con- 
tained a variety of articles supposed to be accept- 
able to the parents of the girl. There was, among 
other things, a machete, no inconsiderable present, 
when it is understood that the cost of one is gener- 
ally a large dory, which it requires months of toil 
to fashion from the rough trunk of the gigantic 
ceiba. A string of gay glass beads was also pro- 
duced from the bundle. All these articles were 
handed in to the women one by one, bv the father 



206 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

of the groom. With every present the door opened 
wider and wider, until the mat was presented, when 
it was turned back to its utmost, reveahng the 
bride arrayed in her "prettiest/" seated on a 
crickery, at the remotest corner of the hut. The 
dragons affected to be absorbed in examining the 
presents, when the bridegroom, watching his oppor- 
tunity, dashed into the hut, to the apparent utter 
horror and dismay of the women ; and, grasping the 
girl by the waist, shouldered her like a sack, and 
started off at a trot for the mystic circle, in the centre 
of the village. The women pursued, as if to over- 
take him and rescue the girl, uttering cries for help, 
while all the crowd huddled after. But the youth 
was too fast for them ; he reached the ring, and 
lifting the vail of the hut, disappeared within it. 
The women could not pass the circle, and all 
stopped short at its edge, and set up a chorus of 
despairing shrieks, while the men all gathered 
within the charmed ring, where they squatted them- 
selves, row on row, facing outward. The old men 
alone remained standing, and a bit of lighted pine 
having meanwhile been brought, one of them ap- 
proached the hut, lifted the mat, and, handing in 
the fire, made a brief speech to the inmates. A 
few seconds after an aromatic smoke curled up from 
the opening in the top of the little hut, from which 
I infer that the copal had been set on fire. What 
else happened, I am sure I do not know ! 

When they saw the smoke, the old women grew 
silent and expectant ; but, by-and-by, when it sub- 



MARRIAGE FESTIVAL. 207 

sided, they became suddenly gay, and "went in 
strong" for the festivities, which, up to this time, I 
must confess, I had thought rather slow. But here 
I may explain, that although the bridegroom has 
no choice in the selection of his wife, yet if he have 
reason for doing so, he may, while the copal is 
burning, take her in his arms, and cast her outside 
of the circle, in the open day, before the entire peo- 
ple, and thus rid himself of her forever. But in 
this case, the matter is carefully investigated by the 
old men, and woe betide the wretch who, by this 
public act, has impeached a girl wrongfully ! Woe 
equally betide the girl who is proved to have been 
'^ put away" for good reasons. If, however, the copal 
burns out quietly, the groom is supposed to be sat- 
isfied, and the marriage is complete. 

The copal, in this instance, burned out in the 
most satisfactory manner, and then the drums and 
flutes struck up a most energetic air, the music of 
which consisted of about eight notes, repeated with 
different degrees of rapidity, by way of giving va- 
riety to the melody. The men all kept their 
places, while I was installed in a seat of honor be- 
side the old men. The women, who, as I have 
said, could not come within the circle, now com- 
menced filling the calabashes from the canoe, and 
passing them to the squatting men, commencing 
with the ancients and the "distinguished guests" — for 
Antonio and my Poyer were included in our party. 
There was nothing said, but the women displayed 
the greatest activity in filling the emptied cala- 



208 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

bashes. I soon discovered that every body was .de- 
liberately and in cold blood getting up of what 
Captain Drummer called the ^' big drunk !" That 
■was part of the performance of the day^ and the 
Indians went at it in the most orderly and expedi- 
tious manner. They wasted no time in coyish pre- 
liminaries — a practice which might be followed in 
more civilized countries, to the great economy, not 
only of time, but of the vinous. It was not from 
the love of the drink that the Towkas imbibed, I 
can well believe, for their chiclia was bad to look at, 
and worse to taste. 

With the fourth round of the calabashes, an oc- 
casional shout betrayed the effects of the chicha 
upon some of the weaker heads. These shouts be- 
came more and more frequent, and were sometimes 
uttered with a savage emphasis, which was rather 
startling. The musicians, too, became more ener- 
getic, and as the sun declined, the excitement rose, 
until, unable to keep quiet any longer, all hands 
got up, and joined in a slow, swinging step around 
the circle, beating with their knuckles on the empty 
calabashes, and joining at intervals in a kind of re- 
frain, at the end of which every man struck the 
bottom of his calabash against that of his neigh- 
bor. Then, as they came round by the canoe, each 
one dipped his calabash full of the contents. The 
liquid thus taken up was drunk at a single draught, 
and then the dance went on, growing more rapid 
with every dip of the calabash. It got to the stage 
of a trot, and then a fast pace, and finally into 



DEAD DRUNK ! 209 

something little short of a gallop, but still in per- 
fect time. The rattling of the calabashes had now 
grown so rapid, as almost to be continuous, and the 
motion so involved and quick, that, as I watched it, 
I felt that kind of giddiness which one often expe- 
riences in watching the gliding of a swift current 
of water. This movement could not be kept up 
long, even with the aid of chicha, and whenever a 
dancer became exhausted, he would wheel out of 
line, and throw himself flat on his face on the 
ground. Finally, every one gave in, except two 
young follows, who seemed determined to do, in 
their way, what other fast young men, in other 
countries, sometimes undertake to accomplish, viz. : 
drink each other down, or " under the table." They 
danced and drunk, and were applauded by the wo- 
men, but were so closely matched that it was im- 
possible to tell which had the best chance of keep- 
ing it up longest. In fact, each seemed to despair 
of the other, and, as if by a common impulse, both 
threw aside their calabashes, and resolved the con- 
test from a trial of endurance into one of strength, 
leaping at each other's throats, and fastening their 
teeth like tigers in each other's flesh. 

There was instantly a great uproar, and those of 
the men who had the ability to stand, clustered 
around the combatants in a confused mass, shout- 
ing at the stretch of their lungs, and evidently, as I 
thought, regarding it as a " free fight." But there 
was little damage done, for the old men, though 
emphatically " tight," had discretion enough to send 



210 



THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 



the women for thongs, with which the pugnacious 
youths were incontinently bound hand and foot, and 
dragged close to the hut in the centre, and there 
left to cool themselves off as they were best able, no 
one taking the slightest notice of them. " Yerily," 
I ejaculated to myself, "wisdom knoweth no 
country." 

The dance which I have described was resumed 
from time to time, until it became quite dark, when 
the women brought a large number of pine splinters, 
of which the men each took one. These were lighted, 
and then the dancers paced up to the little hut, and 
each tore off one of the branches of which it was 




THE END OP it! 



built, finally disclosing the newly-married couple 
sitting demurely side by side. As soon as the hut 
was demolished, the groom quietly took his bride 
on his back— hterally " shouldering the responsibil- 
ity !"— and marched off to the hut which had previ- 



A SWEET SAVANNAH. 211 

onsly been built for his accommodation, escorted by 
the jjrocession of men with torches. This was the 
final ceremony of the night, although some of the 
more dissipated youths returned to the canoe, and 
kept up a drumming, and piping, and dancing, 
until morning. Next day every body brought pres- 
ents of some kind to the newly-married pair, so as 
to give them a fair start in the world, and enable 
them to commence life on equal terms with the best 
in the village. 

It would be difficult to find on earth any thing 
more beautiful than the savannah which spread out, 
almost as far as the eye could reach, behind the 
Towkas village. Along the river's bank rose a tan- 
gled wall of verdure ; giant ceibas, feathery palms, 
and the snake-like trunks of the mata-palo, all 
bound together, and draped over with cable-like 
lianes, (the tie-tie of the English,) and the tena- 
cious tendrils of myriads of creeping and flowering 
plants. Unlike the wearying, monotonous prairies 
of the "West, the savannah was relieved by clumps of 
acacias — among them the delicate-leaved gum-ar- 
abic — palmettos, and dark groups of pines, arranged 
with such harmonious disorder, and admirable pic- 
turesque effect, that I could scarcely believe the 
hand of art had not lent its aid to heighten the ef- 
forts of nature in her happiest mood. 

Finding retreats in the dense coverts of the jun- 
gles on the river's bank, or among the clustering 
groups of bushes and trees, the antelope and deer, 
the Indian rabbit and gibeonite, wandered securely 



21^ THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

over the savannah, nipping the young grass, or 
chasing each other in mimic alarm. Here, too, 
might be observed the crested curassow, with his 
stately step, the plumptitudinous qualm, and the 
crazy chachalca, (coquericot,) besides innumerable 
quails — all fitting food for omnivorous man, but so 
seldom disturbed as not to recognize him as their 
most dangerous enemy. Then night and morning 
the air was filled with deafening parrots, noisy ma- 
caws, and quick-darting, chattering paroquets. 

I rose early every day, and with my gun in my 
hand, strayed far over the savannah, inhaling the 
freshness of the morning air, and shooting such 
game as looked fat, tender, and otherwise accept- 
able to my now fastidious appetite. The curassow, 
(called cossu by the Mosquitos,) is one of the finest 
birds in the world. It is about the size of the tur- 
key, but has stronger and longer legs. The plumage 
is dark brown or black, ash-colored about the neck, 
and of a reddish brown on the breast. On its head 
it has a crest of white feathers tipped with black, 
which it raises and depresses at pleasure. The flesh 
is whiter than that of a turkey, but rather dry, re- 
quiring a different mode of cooking than is practiced 
in the woods, to bring out its qualities in perfection. 
It is easily tamed, as are also the qualm and cha- 
chalaca. The latter, when old, is tough, but when 
young, its flesh cannot be surpassed for delicacy 
and flavor. 

The animal called the Indian rabbit is very 
numerous, and is a variety of what, in South Amer- 



EPISODE EPICURI AN. 213 

ica, is called the agouti. It is about tlie size of a 
rabbit : body plump ; snout long, and rather sharp ; 
nose divided at the tip, and upper jaw longer than 
the lower ; hind legs longer than the anterior ones^ 
and furnished with but three toes ; tail short, and 
scarcely visible, while its body is covered with a 
hard, shining, reddish-brown hair, freckled with 
dark spots. It lives upon vegetables, holds its food 
in eating, like a squirrel, and has a vicious propen- 
sity for biting and gnawing whatever it comes near. 
For this reason it is a nuisance in the neighborhood 
of plantations, and, as it multiplies rapidly, it is 
about the only animal which is hunted systemati- 
cally by the Indians. Its flesh is only passable. 

The giheonite (cavia-paca), sometimes called 
pig-rabbit, closely resembles the guinea-pig, but is 
something larger. The head is round ; the muzzle 
short and black ; the upper jaw longer than the 
lower ; the lip divided, like that of a hare ; the 
nostrils large, and the whiskers long ; eyes brown, 
large, and prominent ; ears short and naked ; neck 
thick ; body very plump, larger behind than be- 
fore, and covered with coarse, short hair, of a 
dusky brown color, deepest on the back ; the 
throat, breast, inside of the limbs, and belly dingy 
white ; and on each side of the body are five rows 
of dark spots, placed close to each other. The legs 
are short, the feet have ^ve toes, with strong nails, 
and the tail is a simple conic projection. Its flesh 
is peculiarly juicy and rich, and, baked in the 
ground, the animal makes a dish for an epicure. I 



214 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 

believe I did not let a day pass without having a 
baked giheonite. 

Among the Indians of the village^ the eggs and 
flesh of the river turtle were favorite articles of 
food ; and in constantly using them, I thought they 
evinced a proper appreciation of what is good. 
There are two varieties of these turtles, one called 
hocatoro (Mosquito chouswdt), and the other heca- 
tee. The latter is seldom more than eighteen inches 
long, but its shell is very deep. We cooked them 
by simply separating the lower shell, taking out the 
entrails, and stuffing the cavity with cassava, 
pieces of plantain, manitee fat, and various condi- 
ments, then wrapping it in plantain leaves, as I 
have described, and turning it back down, baking 
it in the ground. It always required a good bed of 
coals to cook it properly, but when rightly done, the 
result was a meal preeminently savory and palata- 
ble. The Indian boys brought, literally, bushels of 
the eggs of these turtles from the bars and sand- 
spits of the river and lagoon. These are very deli- 
cate when entirely fresh. 




E were not many days in exhausting 
the resources of the Towkas village, 
in the way of adventures ; and, one 
sunny afternoon, packed our little 
boat, and, bidding our entertainers good-hy, pad- 
dled down the river, on our voyage to Sandy Bay- 
next to Bluefields, the principal Sambo estabhsh- 
ment on the coast. Our course lay, a second time, 
through Wava Lagoon, which connects, by a nar- 
row and intricate channel or creek, with a larger 
lagoon to the northward, called Duckwarra. The 
night was quiet and beautiful— the crescent moon 
filling the air with a subdued and dreamy light, 
soothing and slumbrous, and so blending the real 
with the ideal that I sometimes imagine it might 
all have been a dream ! My companions, if they 
did not share the influences of the night, at least 
respected my silence, and we glided on and on. 



216 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

without a sound save the steady dip of the paddles^ 
and the gentle rij)j)le of the water, which closed in 
mimic whirlpools on our track. 

When morning broke, we had already entered 
Duckwarra Lagoon, the largest we had encountered 
since leaving Pearl-Cay. It had the same appear- 
ance with all the others, and, having nothing to de- 
tain us, we steered directly across, only stopping 
near noon on one of the numerous islets, to cook 
our breakfast, and escape the midday heats. This 
islet was, perhaps, two hundred yards across, and 
elevated in the centre some fifteen or twenty feet 
above the water. Near the apex were growing a 
number of ancient palms, and, strolling up to them, 
I found at their roots a small elevation, or tumu- 
lus, perhaps fifteen feet in diameter at the base, 
and ^ve or six feet high. Its regularity arrested 
my attention, and led me to believe that it was ar- 
tificial. I called to Antonio, who at once pro- 
nounced it a burying-place of the " Antiguos.'' I 
proposed opening it, but my companions seemed 
loth to disturb the resting-place of the dead. How- 
ever, finding that I had commenced the work with- 
out them, they joined me, and with our machetes 
and paddles, we rapidly removed the earth. Near 
the original surface of the ground, we came to some 
bones, but they were so much decayed that they 
crumbled beneath the fingers. Uncovering them 
further, we found at the head of the skeleton a 
rude vase, which was got out without much dam- 
age. Carefully removing the earth from the interior 



ABORIGINAL RELICS. 217 

I found that it contained a number of chalcedonic 
pebbles, pierced as if for beads, a couple of arrow- 
heads of similar material, and a small ornament of 
thin, plate gold, rudely representing a human fig- 
ure, as shown in the accompanying engraving, which 
is of the size of the original. At the feet of the 
skeleton we also discovered another small 
vase of coarse pottery, which, however, con- 
tained no relics. Antonio seemed much 
interested in the little golden image, but 
finally, after minute examination, returned 
it to me, saying, that although his own 
people in Yucatan often buried beneath 
tumuli, and had golden idols which they 
placed with the dead, yet, in workmanship, 
they were unlike the one we had discovered. 

" Ah V he continued, his eyes lighting 
with unusual fire, " you should see the works of our 
ancestors ! They were gods, those ancient, holy 
men ! Their temples were built for them by Kabul, 
the Lord of the Powerful Hand, who set the seal of 
his bloody palm upon them all ! You shall go with 
me to the sacred lake of the Itzaes, where our 
people are gathered to receive the directions of the 
Lord of Teaching, whose name is Vofan Balam, who 
led our fathers thither, and who has promised to 
rescue them from their afflictions !'' 

He stopped suddenly, as if alarmed at what he 
had said, kissed his talisman, and relapsed again 
into the quiet, mild-eyed Indian boy, submissively 
awaiting my orders, 

10 




218 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 

We left Duckworra Lagoon by a creek connecting 
it with Sandy Bay Lagoon, and on the second after- 
noon from Wava Kiver, arrived at the Sambo settle- 
ment, which is on its southern shore, about eight 
miles from the sea. It stands upon the edge of a 
savannah, that rises to the southward and east- 
ward, forming, toward the sea, a series of bluffs, 
the principal of which is called Bragman's Bluff, 
and is the most considerable land-mark on the 
coast. 

The town has something the appearance of Blue- 
fields, and contains perhaps ^yo hundred inhabit- 
ants, who affect "Enghsh fashion'' in dress and 
modes of living. That is to say, many of them 
wear Enghsh hats, even when destitute of every 
other article of clothing, except the tournou, or 
breech-cloth. These hats are of styles running 
back for thirty years, and, moreover, crushed into a 
variety of shapes which are infinitely ludicrous, 
especially when the wearers affect gravity or dig- 
nity. A naked man cannot make himself abso- 
lutely ridiculous, for nature never exposes her crea- 
tions to humiliation ; but the attempts at art, in 
making up the man on the Mosquito Shore, I must 
confess, were melancholy failures. 

Before we got to the village, the beating of drums, 
and the occasional firing off of muskets, announced 
that some kind of a feast or celebration was going 
on. As we approached nearer I saw the English 
flag displayed upon a tall bamboo, planted in the 
centre of a group of huts. I saw also a couple of 



THE SAMBOS OF SANDY BAY. 219 

boats, of European construction, drawn up on tlie 
beach, from which I inferred that there must be a 
trading vessel on the coast, and that I was just in 
time to witness one of the orgies which always fol- 
low upon such an event. I had had some misgiv- 
ings as to the probable reception we should meet, in 
case the news of our affair with the Quamwatlas 
had reached here, and felt not a little reassured 
when I saw indications of the presence of foreigners. 

The people were all so absorbed with their fes- 
tivities that our approach was not noticed ; but 
when we got close to the shore, I fired off both bar- 
rels of my gun by way of salute. An instant after, 
a number of men came out from among the huts, 
and hurried down to the beach. Meantime I had 
got out my " King-paper," and leaped ashore. 

The crowd that huddled around me would have 
put Falstaff's tatterdemalion army to shame. The 
most conspicuous character among them wore a 
red check shirt, none of the cleanest, and a thread- 
bare undress coat of a British general, but had 
neither shoes nor breeches. Nor was he equally 
favored with Captain Drummer in respect of a hat. 
Instead of a venerable chapeau, like that worn by 
the captain with so much dignity, he had an 
ancient bell-crowned " tile," which had once been 
white, but was now of equivocal color, and which, 
apparently from having been repeatedly used as a 
seat, was crushed up bellows' fashion, and cocked 
forward in a most absurd manner. 

The wearer of this imposing garb had already 



220 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

reached the stage of " big drunk," and his English, 
none of the best at any time, was now of a very un- 
certain character. He staggered up, as if to em- 
brace me, slapping his breast with one hand, and 
druling out " I Greneral Slam — General Peter 
Slam V I avoided the intended honor by stepping 
on one side, the consequence of which was, that if the 
General had not been caught by Antonio, he cer- 
tainly would have plunged into the lagoon. 

I made a marked display of my "King-paper," 
and commenced to read it to the General, but he 
motioned me to put it up, saying, " All good ! very 
great good ! I Peter Slam, General !" Meantime 
the spectators were reinforced from the village, and 
drums were sent for. They were of English make, 
and of the biggest. General Slam then insisted on 
escorting me up from the beach, " English gentle- 
man fashion !" and taking my arm in his unsteady 
grasp, he headed the procession, with a desperate 
attempt at steadiness, but nevertheless swaying 
from side to side, after the immemorial practice of 
drunken men. 

The General was clearly the magnate of Sandy 
Bay, (called by the Sambos Sanaby,) and when we 
reached the centre of the village, where the feast 
was going on, we were saluted by a " hurrah !" 
given " English fashion." Here I noticed a big ca- 
noe full of misMa, around which the drinking and 
dancing was uninterrupted. General Slam took me 
at once to his own house or hut, where the traders 
in whose honor the feast was got up, were quar- 




GENERAL PETER SLA 



SCENES AT SANDY BAY. 223 

tered. I found there the captain and clerk, and 
two of the crew of the "London Belle/' a trading 
vessel which had recently arrived at Cape Gracias, 
from Jamaica. There was also an Englishman, 

named H , who lived at the Cape, and who 

seemed to hold here a corresponding position with 
Mr. Bell in Bluefields. They were all reclining on 
crickeries, or in hammocks, and appeared to he on 
terms of easy familiarity with a nnmher of very sleek 
young girls, in whose laps they were resting their 
heads, and whose principal occupation, in the inter- 
vals of not over delicate dalliance, was that of pass- 
ing round glasses of a kind of punch, compounded of 
Jamaica rum, the juice of the sugar-cane, and a va- 
riety of crushed fruits. 

The whole party was what is technically called 
" half-seas-over," and welcomed me with that large 
liberality which is inseparable from that condition. 
The general was slapped on the back, and told to ' 
" bring in more girls, you bloody rascal, no skulking 
now !" Whereupon his hat was facetiously crushed 
down over his eyes by each one of his guests in 
succession, and he was kicked out of the door by 
the English captain, a rough brute of a man, who 
only meant to be playful. 

I had barely time to observe that General Slam's 
house was not entirely without evidences of civiliza- 
tion. Upon one side was a folding table, and ship's 
sideboard, or locker, both probably from some 
wreck. In the latter were a quantity of tumblers, 
decanters, plates, and other articles of Christian 



224 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

use ; and on the walls hung a few rude lithographs, 
gaudily colored. Among them — strange juxtaposi- 
tion ! — was a picture of Washington. 

My survey was interrupted by a great tumult 
near the hut, and a moment after, half a dozen 
Sambos, reeking with their filthy misJila, staggered 
in at the door, dragging after them a full-blooded 
Indian, quite naked, and his body bleeding in sev- 
eral places, from blows and scratches received at 
the hands of his savage assailants. The Sambos 
pushed him toward the English captain, ejaculating, 
" Him ! him V while the Indian himself stood in 
perfect silence, his thin lips compressed, and his 
eyes fixed on the captain. The conduct of the 
latter was in keeping with that of the drunken 
wretches who had dragged the Indian to the hut, 
and who, vociferating some unintelligible jargon, 
were brandishing their clubs over his head, and 
occasionally hitting viciously with them at his feet. 

" That 's the bloody villain, is it !" said the 
captain, leaping from his crickery, and striking the 
Indian a terrible blow in the face, which felled him 
to the ground. " 1 11 learn him proper respect for 
the King V This act was followed by stamping 
his foot heavily on the fallen and apparently insen- 
sible Indian. 

The entire proceeding was to me inexplicable ; 
but this last brutality roused my indignation. I 
grasped the captain by the collar of his coat, and 
hurled him across the hut. " Do you pretend to be 
an Englishman," I said, "and yet set such an 



SCENES AT SANDY BAY. 225 

example to these savages ? What has this Indian 
done ?" " I 'U let yon know what he has done," 
he shrieked, rather than spoke, in a wild paroxysm 
of rage ; and, grasping a knife from the tahle, he 
drove at me, with all his force. Maddened and 
drunk as he was, I had only to step aside to avoid 
the blow. Missing his mark, he stumbled over the 
fallen Indian, and fell upon the knife, which pierced 
through and through his left arm, just below the 
shoulder. Quick as lightning the Indian leaped 
forward, tore the knife from the wound, and in 
another instant would have driven it to the cap- 
tain's heart, had I not arrested his arm. He 
glanced up in my face, dropped the knife, and 
folding his arms, stood erect and silent. 

The captain's companions, with the exception of 
Mr. H., were much inclined to be beUigerent, but 
the revolver in my belt inspired them with a whole- 
some discretion. 

Meantime, the captain's wound had been bound 
up, and the Indian had withdrawn. The Sambos 
had retreated the instant I had interposed against 
the violence of the trader. 

The occasion of this brutal assault was simply 
this. The Sambos, living on the coast, effectually 
cut off the Indians from the sea, and, availing them- 
selves of their position, and the advantage of fire- 
arms, make exactions of various kinds from them. 
Thus, if the Indians go off to the cays for turtles, 
they require from them a certain proportion of the 
shells, which is called the " king's portion." But as 
10* 



226 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

the Jamaica traders always keep the king and 
chiefs in debt to them, the shells thus collected go 
directly into their hands. In fact, it is only 
through the means which they afford, and often by 
their direct interference, that the nominal authority 
of the so-called king is kept up. It was alleged 
that the Indian whom the captain had abused, and 
who was a very expert fisherman, had not made 
a fair return ; and his want of " proper respect for 
the king,'" it turned out, consisted in not having a 
sufficient quantity of shells to satisfy the cupidity 
of the trader ! 

After this occurrence at General Slam's house, I 
did not find it agreeable to stay there longer, and, 
accordingly, strolled off in the village. The festival 
had now become uproarious. Around the misJila 
canoe was a motley assemblage of men, women, and 
children ; some with red caps and frocks, others 
strutting about with half a shirt, and others entirely 
naked. A number of men with pipes and drums 
kept up an incessant noise, while others, with mus- 
kets, which they filled with powder almost to the 
muzzle, fired occasional volleys, when all joined in a 
general Jiurrali, " English fashion." 

At a little distance was built up a rude fence of 
palm-branches and pine-boughs, behind which there 
was a crowd of men laughing and shouting in a 
most convulsive manner. I walked forward, and 
saw that only males were admitted behind the 
screen of boughs. Here, in the midst of a large 
circle of spectators, were two men, dressed in an ex- 



SCENES AT SANDY BAY. 227 

traordinary manner, and performing the most absurd 
antics. Around their necks each had a sort of 
wooden collar, whence depended a fringe of palm- 
leaves, hanging nearly to their feet. Their head- 
dresses terminated in a tall, thin strip of wood, 
painted in imitation of the beak of a saw-fish, while 
their faces were daubed with various colors, so as 
completely to change the expression of the features. 
In each hand they had a gourd containing pebbles, 
with which they marked time in their dances. 
These were entirely pecuHar, and certainly very 
comical. First they approached each other, and 
bent down their tall head-pieces with the utmost 
gravity, by way of salute ; then sidled off like crabs, 
singing a couplet which had both rhythm and 
rhyme, but, so far as I could discover, no sense. As 

interpreted to me, afterward, by Mr. H , it 

ran thus : — 

"Shovel-nosed shark, 

Grandmother, grandmother ! 
Shovel-nosed shark, 
G-randmother I" 

When the performers got tired, their places were 
taken by others, who exhausted their ingenuity in 
devising grotesque and ludicrous variations. 

When evening came, fires of pine wood were 
hghted in all directions, and the drinking and 
dancing went on, growing noisier and more outrage- 
ous as the night advanced. Many got dead drunk, 
and were carried off by the women. Others quar- 
reled, but the women, with wise foresight, had car- 



228 



THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 



ried off and hidden all their weapons, and thus obliged 
them to settle their disputes with their fists, " En- 
glish fashion/' To me, these boxing bouts were- 
exceedingly amusing. Instead of parrying each 
others' strokes, they literally exchanged them. First 
one would deliver his blow, and then stand still and 
take that of his opponent, blow for blow, until both 
became satisfied. Then they would take a drink of 
misUa together, "English fashion," and become 
friends again. 

During the whole of the evening I found myself 

closely watched by 
a hideous old wo- 
man, who moved 
around among the 
revelers like a 
ghoul. Everybody 
made way for her 
when she approach- 
ed, and none ven- 
tured to speak with 
her. There was 
something almost 
fascinating in her 
repulsiveness. Her 
hair was long and 
matted, and her 
shriveled skin ap- 
peared to adhere 
like that of a mummy to her bones ; for she was 
emaciated to the last degree. The nails of her 




SUKIA OF SANDY BAY 



THE SUKIA OF SANDY BAY. 229 

fingers were long and black, and caused her hands 
to look like the claws of some unclean bird. Her 
eyes were bloodshot, but bright and intense, and 
were constantly fixed upon me, like those of some 
wild beast on its prey. Vs^herever I moved she fol- 
lowed, even behind the screen concealing the 
masked dancers, where no other woman was ad- 
mitted, 

I lingered among the revelers until their antics 
ceased to be amusing, and became simply brutal. 
Both sexes finally gave themselves wp to the gross- 
est and most shameless debauchery, such as I have 
n^ever heard ascribed to the most bestial of savages. 

Disgusted and sickened, I turned away, and went 
down to the shore, preferring, after what had oc- 
curred at Slam's house, to sleep in my boat, to 
trusting myself in the power of the wounded trader. 
So we pushed off a few hundred feet from the shore, 
and anchored for the night. I wrapped myself in 
my blanket, and, notwithstanding the noisy revels 
in the village, savage laughter and angry shouts, 
the beating of drums and firing of guns, I was soon 
asleep. 

It was past midnight ; the moon had gone down, 
the fires of the village were burning low, and the 
dancers, stupified and exhausted, only broke out in 
occasional spasmodic shrieks, when I was awakened 
by Antonio, who placed his finger on nfy lips in 
token of silence. I nevertheless started up in some- 
thing of alarm, for the image of the skinny old hag, 
who had tracked me with her snaky eyes all the 



230 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

evening, had disturbed my dreams. To my surprise 
I found the Indian, whom I had rescued from the 
drunken violence of the trader, crouching in the 
bottom of the boat. He had already explained to 
Antonio, through the Poyer, that we were in great 
danger ; that the old woman who had haunted me 
was a powerful Suhia, whose commands were always 
implicitly obeyed by the superstitious Sambos. In- 
stigated by the discomfited trader, she had de- 
manded our death, and even now her followers were 
planning the means to accomplish it. Our safety, 
he urged, depended upon our immediate departure, 
and then, as if relieved of a burden, he slipped 
quietly overboard, and swam toward the shore. 

I was nothing loth to leave Sandy Bay, and we 
lost no time in getting up the large stone which 
served us for an anchor, and taking our departure. 
By morning we were clear of the lagoon, and in the 
channel leading from it to Wano Sound, lying 
about fifteen miles to the nortward of Sandy Bay, 
and half that distance from Cape Gracias. We 
reached the sound about ten o'clock in the morning, 
and stopped for breakfast on a narrow sand-spit, 
where a few trees on the shore gave shade and fuel. 
The day was excessively hot, and we waited for the 
evening before pursuing our voyage. During the 
afternoon, however, we were joined by Mr. H., who 
had got wind of the designs of the trader, and at- 
tempted to warn us, but found that we had gone. 
Indignant at his treachery, he had abandoned the 
brutal captain, and determined to return to the Cape. 



POWER OF THE SUKIAS. 231 

He explained to me that our danger had been 
greater than we had supposed. The old Sukia wo- 
man possessed more power over the Sambos than 
king or chief, and her commands were never disput- 
ed or neglected. The grandfather of the present 
king, he said, had been killed by her order, as had 
also his great aunt ; and although the immediate 
perpetrators of the deed had been executed, yet the 
king had not dared to bring the dreaded Sukia to 
justice. She had, however, been obliged to leave 
Oape G-racias, lest, during the visit of some English 
vessel of war, she should be punished for complicity 
in the murder of a couple of Englishmen, named 
Collins and Pollard, who had been slaughtered 
some years before, while turtling on the cays off the 
coast. Another reason for her departure had -been 
the advent of a more powerful and less malignant 
Sukia woman, who, he assured me, was gifted with 
prophecy, and a knowledge of things past and to 
come. He represented her as young, living in a 
very mysterious manner, far up the Cape Kiver, 
among the mountains. None knew who she was, 
nor whence she came, nor had he seen her more 
than once, although he had consulted her by proxy 
on several occasions. I was amused at the gravity 
with which he recounted instances of her power 
over disease and her knowledge of events, and 
could not help thinking, that he had resided so 
long on the coast as to get infected with the super- 
stitions of the people. There was, however, no 
mistaking his earnestness, and I consequently ab- 



232 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

stained from ridiculing his stories. " You shall see 
and hear for yourself/' he added, "and then you 
will be better able to judge if I am a child to be 
deceived by the silly juggles of an Indian woman. 
These people have inherited from their ancestors 
many mysterious and wonderful powers ; and even 
the inferior order of Suhias can defy the poison of 
snakes, and the effects of fire. Flames and the 
bullets of guns are impotent against them." 

I found H. a man of no inconsiderable intelli- 
gence, and he gave me much information about the 
coast and its inhabitants, and, altogether, before 
embarking we had become fast friends, and I had 
accepted an invitation to make his house my home 
during my stay at the Cape. 

I have several times alluded to the filthy mishla 
drink, which is the universal appliance of the Sam- 
bos for getting up the " big drunk."' I never 
witnessed the disgusting process of its preparation, 
but it has been graphically described by Koberts, 
who was a trader on the coast, and who, twenty 
years before, had been a witness of the " rise and 
progress" of a grand debauch at Sandy Bay. 

" Preparations were going on for a grand feast 
and mishla drink. For this purpose the whole 
population was employed — most of them being en- 
gaged in collecting pine-a]3ples, plantains, and cas- 
sava for their favorite liquor. The expressed juice 
of the pine-apple alone is a pleasant and agreeable 
beverage. The mishla from the plantain and ba- 
nana, is also both pleasant and nutritive ; that 



MISHLA DRINK. 238 

from the cassava and maize is more intoxicatino-. 
but its preparation is a process exceedingly disgust- 
ing. The root of the cassava, after being peeled 
and mashedj is boiled to the same consistence as 
when it is used for food. It is then taken from the 
fire, and allowed to cool. The pots are now sur- 
rounded by all the women, old and young, who, 
being provided with large calabashes, commence an 
attack upon the cassava, which they chew to the 
consistence of a thick paste, and then put their 
mouthsful into the bowls, until the latter are 
filled. These are then emptied into a canoe which 
is drawn up for the purpose, until it is about one 
third filled. Other cassava is then taken, bruised 
in a kind of wooden mortar, until it is reduced to 
the consistence of dough, when it is diluted with 
cold water, to which is added a quantity of Indian 
corn, partly boiled and masticated, and then all is 
poured into the canoe, which is filled with water, 
and the mixture afterward frequently stirred with 
a paddle. In the course of a few hours it reaches a 
high and abominable state of fermentation. The 
liquor, it may be observed, is more or less esteemed, 
according to the health, age, and constitution of , 
the masticators. And when the chiefs give a pri- | 

\ vate mishla drink, they confine the mastication to / 

\ their own wives and young girls," 

After fermentation, the mishla has a cream-like 
appearance, and is to the highest degree intoxicat- 
ing. The drinking never ceases, so long as a drop 
can be squeezed from the festering dregs that re- 
main, after the liquid is exhausted. 




/r APE aKACIAS A DIOS, was so 
called by Columbus, wben, after a 
weary voyage, he gave " Thanks to 
God'' for the happy discovery of 
this, the extreme north-eastern angle of Central 
America. Here the great Cape, or Wanks Kiver, 
finds its way into the sea, forming a large, but 
shallow harbor. It was a favorite resort of the buc- 
caneers, in the olden time, when the Spanish Main 
was associated with vague notions of exhaustless 
wealth, tales of heavy galloons, laden with gold, 
and the wild adventures of Drake, and Morgan, and 
Llonois. Here, too, long ago, was wrecked a large 
slaver, destined for Cuba, and crowded with ne- 
groes. They escaped to the shore, mixed with the 
natives, and, with subsequent additions to their 
numbers from Jamaica, and from the interior, orig- 
inated the people known as the " Mosquito In- 
dians." Supported by the pirates, and by the 
governors of Jamaica, as a means of annoyance to 



CAPE GRACIAS. 235 

the Spaniards, they gradually extended southward 
as far as Bluefields, and at one time carried on a 
war against the Indians, whom they had displaced, 
for the purpose of obtaining prisoners, to be sold in 
the islands as slaves. 

But with the suppression of this traffic, and in 
consequence of the encroachments of the semi- 
civilized Caribs on the north, their settlement at 
the Cape has gradually declined, until now it does 
not contain more than two hundred inhabitants. 
The village is situated on the south-western side of 
the bay or harbor, not far from its entrance, on the 
edge of an extensive, sandy savannah. 

Between the shore and the village is a belt of 
thick bush, three or four hundred yards broad, 
through which are numerous narrow paths, difficult 
to pass, since the natives are too lazy to cut away 
the undergrowth and branches which obstruct them. 
The village itself is mean, dirty, and infested with 
hungry pigs, and snarling, mangy dogs. The huts 
are of the rudest description, and most of them un- 
fitted for shelter against the rain. The only houses 
which had any pretensions to comfort, at the time of 
my visit, were the " King's house,'' another belonging 
to a German named Boucher, and that of my new 
friend H. The latter was boarded and shingled, and 
looked quite a palace after my experience of the pre- 
ceding two months, in Mosquito architecture. Mr. 
H. made us very comfortable indeed. In addition 
to the numerous native products of the country, he 
had a liberal supply of foreign luxuries. As a 



236 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

trader he had, for many years, carried on quite a 
traffic with the Wanks Eiver Indians, in deer skins, 
sarsaparilla, and mahogany, and with the Sambos 
themselves in turtle-shells. And whatever nominal 
authority may have existed previously at the Cape, 
it was obvious enough that he was now the de facto 
governor. 

Thoroughly domesticated in the country, he had 
no ambitions beyond it, and had made several, 
although not very successful, attempts to introduce 
industry, and improve the condition of the natives. 
At one time he had had a number of cattle on the 
savannah — which, although its soil is too poor for 
cultivation, nevertheless affords abundance of good 
grass — but the Sambos killed so many for their 
own use, that he sold the remainder to the trading 
vessels. He had now undertaken their introduction 
again, with better success, and had, moreover, some 
mules and horses. The latter were sorry-looking 
beasts ; since, for want of proper care, the wood- 
ticks had got in their ears, and caused them not 
only to lop down, but also, in some instances, en- 
tirely to dro]3 off. 

The Sambos have a singular custom, unfavorable, 
certainly, to the raising of cattle, which Mr. H. had 
not yet entirely succeeded in suppressing. When- 
ever a native is proved guilty of adultery, the in- 
jured party immediately goes out in the savannah 
and shoots a beeve, without regard to its ownership. 
The duty of paying for it then devolves upon the 
adulterer, and constitutes the penalty for his offence ! 



NEW WAY OF HUNTING. 237 

Nearly all the Sambos at the Cape speak a little 
English, and I never passed their huts without 
being saluted " Mornin', sir ; give me grog V In 
fact their devotion to grog, and general improvi- 
dent habits, are fast thinning their numbers, and 
will soon work their utter extermination. Although 
there are several places near the settlement where 
all needful supplies might be raised, yet they are 
chiefly dependent on the Indians of the river for 
their vegetables. 

There is little game on the savannah, but on the 
strip of land which separates the harbor from the 
sea, and which is called the island of San Pio, deer 
are found in abundance. This island is curiously 



^^^■SM^^ 




HUNTING DEER. 

diversified with alternate patches of savannah, bush, 
and marsh, and offers numerous coverts for wild 
animals. The "deer, however, are only hunted by 
the few whites who live at the Cape, and they have 
hit upon an easy and novel mode of procuring 
their supply. The deer are not shy of cattle, and 
will feed side by side with them in the savannahs. 
So Mr. H. had trained a favorite cow to obey reins 



238 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

of cord attached to her horns^ as a horse does his 
bit. Starting out, and keeping the cow constantly 
between himself and the deer, he never has 
the slightest difficulty in approaching so close 
to them as to shoot them with a pistol. If there 
are more than one, the rest do not start off at the 
discharge, but only prick up their ears in amaze- 
ment, and thus afford an opportunity for another 
shot, if desired. I witnessed this labor-saving mode 
of hunting several times, and found that H. and his 
cow never failed of their object. 

While upon the subject of game, I may mention 
that San Pib abounds with birds and water-fowl. 
Among them are two varieties of snipe, beside 
innumerable curlews, ducks, and teal. The blue 
and green-winged teal were great favorites of mine, 
being always in good condition. They were not 
obtained, however, without the drawback of expo- 
sure to the sandflies, which infest the island in 
uncountable millions. The European residents 
always have a supply of turtles, which are pur- 
chased at prices of from four to eight yards of 
Osnaberg, equal to from one to two dollars, accord- 
ing to their size. Two kinds of oysters are also 
obtained here, one called the " bank oyster," corres- 
ponding with those which I obtained in Pearl Cay 
Lagoon, and the little mangrove oysters. The 
latter are about the size of half a dollar, and attach 
themselves to the roots of the mangrove-trees. It 
is a question whether a hungry man, having to 
open them for himself, might not starve before 



A WITCH IN EBONY. 239 

getting satisfied. A few hundreds^ with a couple 
of Indians to open them, make a good, but mode- 
rate, lunch ! 

The bay and river swarm with fish, of the varie- 
ties which I have enumerated as common on the 
coast. During still weather they are caught with 
seines, in large quantities. These seines belong to 
the foreigners, but are drawn by the natives (when 
they happen to be hungry !), who receive half of 
the spoil. 

Mr. H. was not a little piqued at my incredulity 
in the Sukias, and, faithful to his promise, per- 
suaded one of them to give us an example of her 
powers. The place was the enclosure in the rear 
of his own house, and the time evening. The 
Sukia made her appearance alone, carrying a long 
thick wand of bamboo, and with no dress except 
the ule tournou. She was only inferior to her sister 
at Sandy Bay, in ugliness, and stalked into the 
house like a spectre, without uttering a word. H. 
cut off a piece of calico, and handed it to her as her 
recompense. She received it in perfect silence, 
walked into the yard, and folded it carefully on the 
ground. Meanwhile a fire had been kindled of pine 
splints and branches, which was now blazing high. 
Without any hesitation the Sukia walked up to it, 
and stepped in its very centre. The flames darted 
their forked tongues as high as her waist ; the coals 
beneath and around her naked feet blackened, and 
seemed to expire ; while the tournou which she 
wore about her loins, cracked and shriveled with 



,240 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

the heat. There she stood, immovable, and appa- 
rently as insensible as a statue of iron, until the 
blaze subsided, when she commenced to walk 
around the smouldering embers, muttering rapidly 
to herself, in an unintelligible manner. Suddenly 
she stopped, and placing her foot on the bamboo 
staff, broke it in the middle, shaking out, from the 
section in her hand, a full-grown tamagasa snake, 
which, on the instant coiled itself up, flattened its 
head, and darted out its tongue, in an attitude of 
defiance and attack. The SuJcia extended her 
hand, and it fastened on her wrist with the quick- 
ness of hght, where it hung, dangHng and writhing its 
body in knots and coils, while she resumed her mum- 
bling march around the embers. After a while, and 
with the same abruptness which had marked all of 
her previous movements, she shook off the serpent, 
crushed its head in the ground with her heel, and 
taking up the cloth which had been given to her, 
stalked away, without having exchanged a word 
with any one present. 

Mr. H. gave me a triumphant look, and asked 
what now I had to say. " Was there any deception 
in what I had seen ?" I only succeeded in con- 
vincing him that I was a perversely obstinate man, 
by suggesting that the SuJcia was probably ac- 
quainted with some antidote for the venom of the 
serpent, and that her endurance of the fire was 
nothing more remarkable than that of the jugglers, 
"fire kings/' and other vagrants at home, who 
make no pretence of supernatural powers. 



MYSTERIES. 241 

" Well/' he continued, in a tone of irritated dis- 
appointment^ " can your jugglers and '' fire kings' 
tell the past, and predict the future ? When you 
have your inmost thoughts revealed to you, and 
when the spirits of your dead friends recall to your 
memory scenes and incidents known only to them, 
yourself, and God — tell me,'' and his voice grew 
deep and earnest, '^ on what hypothesis do you ac- 
count for things like these ? Yet I can testify to 
their truth. You may laugh at what you call the 
vulgar trickery of the old hag who has just left us, 
hut I can take you where even your scoffing tongue 
will cleave to its roof with awe ; where the inmost 
secrets of your heart shall be unvailed, and where 
you shall fed that you stand face to face with the 
invisible dead !" 

I have never felt it in my heart to ridicule opin- 
ions, however absurd, if sincerely entertained ; and 
there was that in the awed manner of my host 
which convinced me that he was in earnest in what 
he said. So I dropped the conversation, on his as- 
surance that he would accompany me to visit the 
strange woman to whom he assigned such mysteri- 
ous power. 

Antonio had been an attentive witness of the 
tricks of the SuTcia, and expressed to me the great- 
est contempt for her pretensions. Such exhibitions, 
he said, were only fit for idle children, and were not 
to be confounded with the awful powers of the 
oracles, through whom the " Lord of Teaching and 
the ^ipirits of the Holy Men" held communion 

11 



242 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

witli mortals. I spoke to him of the mysterious 
womarij who was greater than ail the Sukias, and 
lived among the mountains. " She is of our peo- 
ple/' he exclaimed, warmly, "and her name is 
Hoxom-Bal, which means the Mother of the Tigers. 
It was to seek her that I left the Holy City of the 
Itzaes, with no guide but my Lord who never lies. 
And now her soul shall enter into our brothers of 
the mountains, and they shall be tigers on the 
tracks of our oppressors \" 

The form of the Indian boy had dilated as he 
spoke ; his smooth limbs were knotted by the swell- 
ing muscles ; his eyes burned, and his low voice be- 
came firm, distinct, and ominous. But it was only 
for an instant ; and while I listened to hear the 
great secret which swelled in his bosom, he stopped 
short, and, turning suddenly, walked away. But I 
could see that he pressed his talisman closer to his 
breast. 

The Sukias of the coast are usually women, al- 
though their powers and authority are sometimes 
assumed by men. Their preparation for the office 
involves mortifications as rigorous as the Church 
ever required of her most abject devotees. For 
months do the candidates seclude themselves in the 
forests, avoiding the face of their fellows, and there, 
without arms or means of defense, contend with 
hunger, the elements, and wild beasts. It is thus 
that they seal their compact with the mysterious 
powers which rule over earth and water, air and 
fire ; and they return to the villages of theu peo- 



MOSQUITO HABITS. 243 

pie, invested with all the terrors which superstition 
has ever attached to those who seem to be exempt 
from the operations of natural laws. 

These Suhias are the "medicine-men" of the 
coast, and affect to cure disease ; but their direc- 
tions are usually more extravagant than beneficial. 
They sometimes order the victim of fever to go to 
an open sand-beach by the sea, and there, exposed 
to the burning heat of the vertical sun, await his 
cure. They have also a savage taste for blood, and 
the cutting and scarification of the body are 
among their favorite remedies. 

The Mosquitos, I may observe here, have no idea 
of a supreme beneficent Being ; but stand in great 
awe of an evil spirit which they call Wulasha, and 
of a water-ghost, called Lewir.e. Wulasha is sup- 
posed to share in all the rewards which the Sukias 
obtain for their services. His half of the stipulated 
price, however, is shrewdly exacted beforehand, 
while the payment of the remainder depends very 
much upon the Suhia's success. 

Among the customs universal on the coast, is in- 
fanticide, in all cases where the child is born with 
any physical defect. As a consequence, natural de- 
formity of person is unknown. Chastity, as I have 
several times had occasion to intimate, is not con- 
sidered a virtue ; and the number of a man's wives is 
only determined by circumstances, polygamy being 
universal. Physically, the Mosquitos have a large 
predominance of negro blood ; and their habits and 
superstitions are African rather than American. 



244 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 

They are largely affected with syphilitic affections, 
resulting from their unrestrained licentious inter- 
course with the pirates in remote, and with traders 
(in character but one degree removed from the pi- 
rates) in later times. These affections, under the 
form of the hulpis, red, white, and scabbed, have 
come to be a radical taint, running through the 
entire population, and so impairing the general 
constitution as to render it fatally susceptible to all 
epidemic diseases. This is one of the powerful 
causes which is contributing to the rapid decrease, 
and which will soon result in the total extinction of 
the Sambos. 

Their arts are limited to the very narrow range 
of their wants, and are exceedingly rude. The 
greatest skill is displayed in their dories, canoes, 
and pitpans, which are brought down by the In- 
dians of the interior, rudely blocked out, so as to 
give the purchaser an opportunity of exercising his 
taste in the finish. Essentially fishers, they are at 
home in the water, and manage theh boats with 
great dexterity. Theh language has some shght 
affinity with the Carib, but has degenerated into a 
sort of jargon, in which Indian, English, Spanish, 
and Jamaica- African are strangely jumbled. They 
count by twenties, i. e., collective fingers and toes, 
and make fearful work of it when they " get up in 
the figures." Thus, to express thirty-seven, they say, 
" Iwanaiska - humi-20ura - matawalsip -pura-matlal- 
hahe-pura-kumi," which literally means, one-twenty- 
and- ten -and -six- and -one, i. e., 20+1+10 + 6 + 1. 



MOSQUITO CHARACTER. 245 

They reckon their days by sleeps, their months by 
moons, and their years by the complement of thir- 
teen moons. 

Altogether, the Mosquitos have little in their 
character to commend. Their besetting vice is 
drunkenness, which has obliterated all of their bet- 
ter traits. Without religion, with no* idea of gov- 
ernment, they are capricious, indolent, improvident, 
treacherous, and given to thieving. All attempts 
to advance their condition have been melancholy 
failures, and it is probable they would have disap- 
peared from the earth without remark, had it not 
suited the purposes of the English government to 
put them forward as a mask to that encroaching 
policy which is its always disclaimed, but insepar- 
able and notorious characteristic. 

There is a suburb of the village at the Cape, 
near the river, which is called PuUen-town. Here 
I was witness of a curious ceremony, a Seekroe or 
Festival of the Dead. This festival occurs on the 
first anniversary of the death of any important 
member of a family, and is only participated in by 
the relatives and friends of the deceased. The 
prime element, as in every feast, is the chicha, of 
which all hands drink profusely. Both males and 
females were dressed in a species of cloak, of ule 
bark, fantastically painted with black and white, 
while their faces were correspondingly streaked 
with red and yellow (anotto). The music was made 
by two big droning pipes, played to a low, monoton- 
ous vocal accompaniment. The dance consisted in 



246 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

slowly stalking in a circle^ for a certain length of 
time, when the immediate relatives of the dead 
threw themselves flat on their faces on the ground, 
calling loudly on the departed, and tearing up the 
earth with their hands. Then, rising, they re- 
sumed their march, only to repeat their prostrations 
and cries. I could obtain no satisfactory explana- 
tion of the practice. " So did our ancestors," was 
the only reason assigned for its continuance. 

We had been at the Cape about a week, when 
Mr. H. received information that the news of our 
affair at Quamwatla had reached Sandy Bay, and 
that the vindictive trader had dispatched a fast- 
sailing dory by sea to Bluefields, to obtain orders 
for our " arrest and j)unishment.'' This news was 
brought in the night, by the same Indian whom I 
had protected from the trader's brutality, and who 
took this means of evincing his gratitude. I had 
'already frankly explained to Mr. H. the circum- 
stances of our fight, which, he conceded, fully justi- 
fied all we had done. Still, as the trader might 
make it a pretext for much annoyance, he approved 
the plan which I had already formed, for other rea- 
sons, to explore the Wanks River, and accompany 
my Poyer boy to the fastnesses of his tribe, in the 
untracked wilderness lying between that river and 
the Bay of Honduras. By taking this course, I 
would be able again to reach the sea beyond the 
Sambo jurisdiction, in the district occupied by the 
Caribs, not far from the old Spanish port of Trux- 
illo. Furthermore, the tame scenery of the lagoons 



THE RIVEK WANKS. 24T 

had become unattractive, and I longed for moun- 
tains and the noise of rushing waters. The famous 
Suhia woman also lived on one of the lower 
branches of the river, and in accordance with this 
plan we could visit her without going greatly out 
of our way. 

In fulfillment of his promise, Mr. H. prepared to 
accompany us as far as the retreat of the mysterious 
seeress, and two days afterward, following the lead 
of his pitpan, we embarked. The harbor connects 
with the river by a creek at its northern extremity, 
which is deep enough to admit the passage of 
canoes. Emerging from this, we came into the 
great Wanks Eiver, a broad and noble stream, with 
a very slight current at its low stages, but pouring 
forth a heavy flood of waters during the rainy sea- 
son. It has ample capacity for navigation for 
nearly a hundred miles of its length, but a bad and 
variable bar at its mouth presents an insurmount- 
able barrier to the entrance of vessels. Very little 
is known of this river, except that it rises within 
thirty or forty miles of the Pacific, and that, for 
the upper half of its course, it flows among high 
mountains, and is obstructed by falls and shallows. 

We made rapid progress during the day, the 
river more resembling an estuary than a running 
stream. The banks, for a hundred yards or more 
back from the water, were thickly lined with bush ; 
but beyond this belt of jungle there was an unin- 
terrupted succession of sandy savannahs. There 
were no signs of inhabitants, except a few huts, at 



248 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

long intervalSj at places where the soil happened to 
be rich enough to admit of cultivation. We never- 
theless met a few Indians coming down with canoes, 
to be sold at the Cape, who regarded us curiously, 
and in silence. 

^Near evening, we encamped at a point where a 
ridge of the savannah, penetrating the bush, came 
down boldly to the river, forming an eddy, or cove, 
which seemed specially intended for a halting-place. 
Mr. H. had named the bluff " Iguana Point,'' from 
the great number of iguanas found there. They 
abound on the higher parts of the entire coast, but 
I had seen none so large as those found at this 
place. It is difficult to imagine uglier reptiles — 
great, overgrown, corrugated lizards as they are, 
with their bloated throats, and snaky eyes ! They 
seemed to think us insolent intruders, and waddled 
off with apparent sullen reluctance, when we 
approached. But the law of compensations holds 
good in respect to the iguanas, as in regard to 
every thing else. If they are the ugliest reptiles in 
the world, they are, at the same time, among the 
best to eat. So our men slaughtered three or four 
of the largest, selecting those which appeared to be 
fullest of eggs. Up to this time I had not been 
able to overcome my repugnance sufficiently to 
taste them ; but now, encouraged by H., I made 
the attempt. The first few mouthfuls went much 
against the grain ; but I found the flesh really so 
delicate, that before the meal was finished, I suc- 
ceeded in forgetting my prejudices. The eggs are 



IGUANA POINT. 249 

especially delicious, surpassing even those of the 
turtle. It may be said, to the credit of the ugly 
iguana, that in respect of his own food, he is as 
delicate as the humming-bird, or the squirrel, living 
chiefly upon flowers and blossoms of trees. He is 
frequently to be seen on the branches of large 
trees, overhanging the water, whence he looks down 
with curious gravity upon the passing voyager. 
His principal enemies are serpents, who, however, 
frequently get worsted in their attacks, for the 
iguana has sharp teeth, and powerful jaws. Of the 
smaller varieties, there are some of the liveliest 
green. Hundreds of these may be seen on the 
snags and fallen trunks that line the shores of the 
rivers. They will watch the canoe as it approaches, 
then suddenly dart off to the shore, literally walking 
the water, so rapidly that they almost appear like a 
green arrow skipping past. They are called, in the 
language of the natives, by the generic name, haha- 
TTiuk. 

In strolling a little distance from our camp, 
before supper, I saw a waddling animal, which I 
at first took for an iguana. A moment after, I per- 
ceived my mistake. It appeared to be doing its 
best to run away, but so clumsily that, instead of 
shooting it, I hurried forward, and headed off its 
course. In attempting to pass me, it came so near 
that I stopped it with my foot. In an instant it 
literally rolled itself up in a ball, looking for all the 
world like a large sea-shell, or rather like one of 
those curious, cheese-like, coralline productions, 

11* 



250 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

known among sailors as sea-eggs. I then saw it 
was an armadillo^ that little mailed adventurer of 
the forest, who, like the opossum, shams death 
when " cornered," or driven in " a tight j)lace/' I 
rolled him over, and grasping him hy his stumpy- 
tail, carried him into camp. He proved to be of 
the variety known as the "three-banded armadillo,'' 
cream-colored, and covered with hexagonal scales. 
I afterward saw several other larger varieties, with 
eight and nine bands. The flesh of the armadillo 
is white, juicy, and tender, and is esteemed one of 
the greatest of luxuries. 



^J^' 





iT noon, on the second day of our de- 
j parture from Cape Gracias, we came 
I to a considerable stream, named 
I « I Bocay, which enters the river Wanks 
from the south-west. It was on the banks of this 
river, some ten or fifteen miles above its mouth, 
that the famed Suhia woman resided. We direct- 
ed our boats up the stream, the water of which was 
clear, and flgwed with a rapid current. We were 
not long in passing through the belt of savannah 
which flanks the Cape River, on both sides, for fifty 
miles above its mouth. Beyond this came dense 
primitive forests of gigantic trees, among which the 
mahogany was conspicuous. The banks, too, be- 
came high and firm, occasionally presenting rocky 
promontories, around which the water swept in dark 
eddies. Altogether, it was evident that we had en- 
tered the mountain region of the continent, 



and 



252 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

were- at the foot of one of the great dependent 
ranges of the primitive chain of the Cordilleras. 

In places, the river was compressed among 
high hills, with scarped, rocky faces, where the 
current was rapid and powerful, and only over- 
come by vigorous efforts at the paddles. These 
were succeeded by beautiful intervals of level 
ground, inviting localities for the establishments of 
man. We passed two or three sweet and sheltered 
nooks, in which were small clearings, and the pic- 
turesque huts of the Indians. Excepting an occa- 
sional palm-tree, ' or isolated cluster of plantains, 
clinging to the shore where their germs had been 
lodged by the water, there was nothing tropical 
in the aspect of nature, unless, perhaps, the great- 
er size of the forest-trees, and the variety of para- 
sitic plants which they supported. 

Our progress against the current was compara- 
tively slow and laborious, and it was late in the 
evening when the glittering of fires on .the bank, 
and the barking of dogs, announced to us the prox- 
imity of the Indian village of Bocay, to which we 
were bound. We reached it in due time, and were 
received quite ceremoniously by the old men of the 
place, who seemed to be perfectly aware of our com- 
ing. This struck me at the time as due to the fore- 
sight of Mr. H., but I afterward learned that he 
had given the Indians no intimation of our pro- 
posed visit. 

A vacant hut was assigned to us, and we com- 
menced to arrange our hammocks and prepare our 



THE MESSENGER. 253 

supper. Our meal was scarcely finished, when there 
was a sudden movement among the Indians, who 
clustered like bees around our door, and a passage 
for some one approaching was rapidly opened. A 
moment afterward, an old woman came forward, 
and, stopping in the low doorway, regarded us in 
silence. In bearing and dress she differed much 
from the rest of the people. Around her forehead 
she wore a broad band of cotton, in which were 
braided the most brilliant feathers of birds. This 
band confined her hair, which hung down her back, 
like a vail, nearly to the ground. From her waist 
depended a kilt of tiger-skins, and she wore sandals 
of the same on her feet. Around each wrist and 
ankle she had broad feather bands, like that which 
encircled her forehead. 

Her eyes soon rested upon Antonio, who, on the 
instant of her approach, had discontinued his work, 
and advanced to the door. They exchanged a 
glance as if of recognition, and spoke a few hurried 
and, to us, unintelligible words, when the old wo- 
man turned suddenly, and walked away. I looked 
inquiringly at the youthful Indian, whose eyes 
glowed again with that mysterious intelligence 
which I had so often remarked. 

He came hastily to my side, and whispered in 
Spanish, " The Mother of the Tigers is waiting V 
Then, with nervous steps, he moved toward the 
door. I beckoned to H., and followed. The In- 
dians opened to the right and left, and we passed 
out, scarcely able to keep pace with the rapid 



254 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

steps of the Indian boy. On he went, as if familiar 
with the j)lace, past the open huts, and into the 
dark forest. I now saw that he followed a light, 
not like that of a flame, but of a burning coal, 
which looked close at one moment, and distant 
the next. The path, though narrow, was smooth, 
and ascended rapidly. For half an hour we kept 
on at the same quick pace, when the trees began to 
separate, and I could see that we were emerging 
from the dark forest into a comparatively open 
space, in which the graceful plumes of the palm- 
trees appeared, traced lightly against the starry sky. 
Here the guiding fire seemed to halt, and, coming 
up, we found the same old woman who had visited 
us in the village, and who now carried a burning 
brand as a direction to our steps. She made a sign 
of silence, and moved on slowly, and with apparent 
caution. A few minutes' walk brought us to what, 
in the dim light, appeared to be a building of stone, 
and soon after to another and larger one. I saw 
that they were partly ruined, for the stars in the hori- 
zon were visible through the open doorways. Our 
guide passed these without stopping, and led us to 
the threshold of a small cane-built hut, which stood 
beyond the ruin. The door was open, and the light 
from within shone out on the smoothly beaten 
ground in front, in a broad unwavering column. 
We entered ; but for the moment I was almost 
blinded by a blaze of light proceeding from torches 
of pine-wood, planted in each corner. I was 
startled also by an angry growl, and the sudden 



SANCTUARY OF THE SUKIA. 255 

apparition of some wild animal at our feet. I 
shrank back with a feeling of alarm, wliicK was not 
diminished when, upon recovering my powers of 
vision, I saw directly in front of us, as if guardian 
of the dwelling, a large tiger, its fierce eyes fixed 
upon us, and slowly sweeping the ground with its 
long tail, as if joreparing to spring at our throats. 

It, however, stopped the way only for a moment. 
A single word and gesture from the old woman 
drove it into a corner of the hut, where it crouched 
down in quiet. I glanced around, but excepting a 
single rude Indian drum, placed in the centre of 
the smooth, earthen floor, and a few blocks of stone 
planted along the walls for seats, there were no 
other articles, either of use or ornament, in the hut. 
But at one extremity of the low apartment, seated 
upon an outspread tiger-skin, was a woman, whose 
figure and manner at once marked her out as the 
extraordinary Sukia whom we had come so far to 
visit. She was young, certainly not over twenty, 
tall, and perfectly formed, and wore a tiger-skin in 
the same manner as the old woman who had acted 
as her messenger, but the band around her fore- 
head, and her armlets and anklets, were of gold. 

She rose when we entered, and, with a faint smile 
of recognition to H., spoke a few words of welcome. 
I had expected to see a bold pretender to supernat- 
ural powers, whose first efibrts would be directed to 
work upon the imaginations of her visitors, and was 
surprised to find that the " Mother of the Tigers" 
was after all only a shy and timid Indian girl. Her 



256 



THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 



lookSj at firstj were troubled, and she glanced into 
our eyes inquiringly ; but suddenly turning her gaze 

toward the open door, 
sbe uttered an excla- 
mation of mingled 
surprise and joy, and 
in an instant after 
sbe stood by the side 
of Antonio. They 
gazed at eacb other 
in silence, then ex- 
changed a rapid sig- 
nal, and a single 
word, when she turn- 
ed away, and Anto- 
nio retired into a 
corner, where he re- 
mained fixed as a 
statue, regarding ev- 
ery movement with 
the closest attention. 
No sooner had the Sukia resumed her seat, than 
she clasped her forehead in her open palms, and 
gazed intently upon the groimd before her. Never 
have I seen the face of a human being which wore a 
more earnest expression. For ^yq minutes, per- 
haps, the silence was unbroken, when a sudden 
sound, as of the snapping of the string of a violin, 
directed our attention to the rude drum that stood 
in the centre of the hut. This sound was followed 
by a series of crackling noises, like the discharges of 




THE MOTHER OF THE TIGIERS.' 



SANCTUARY OF THE SUKIA. 257 

electric sparks. They seemed to occur irregularly 
at first, but as I listened, I discovered that they 
had a harmonious relationship, as if in accompani- 
ment to some simple melody. The vibrations of the 
drum were distinctly visible, and they seemed to 
give it a circular motion over the ground, from left 
to right. The sounds stopped as suddenly as they 
had commenced, and the Suhia, lifting her head, 
said solemnly, ^^The spirits of your fathers have 
come to the mountain ! I know them not ; you 
must speak to them." 

?,i v.'f V v,"j <J vjf v|c \i 

I hesitate to recount what I that night witnessed 
in the rude hut of the Suhia^ lest my testimony 
should expose both my narrative and myself to ridi- 
cule, and unjust imputations. Were it my purpose 
to elaborate an impressive story, it would be easy 
to call in the aid of an imposing machinery, and 
invest the communications which were that night 
made to us with a portentous significance. But 
this would be as foreign to truth as repugnant to 
my own feelings ; for whatever tone of lightness 
may run through this account of my adventures in 
the wilderness, those who know me will bear witness 
to my respect for those things which are in their 
nature sacred, or connected with the more mysteri- 
ous elements of our existence. I can only say, that 
except the somewhat melo-dramatic manner in 
which we had been conducted up the mountain by 
the messenger of the Sukia, and the incident of the 
tamed tiger, nothing occurred during our visit 



258 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

which appeared to have been designed for effect, or 
which was visibly ont of the ordinary course of 
things. It is true, I was somewhat puzzled, I will 
not say impressed, with the perfect understanding, 
or relationship, which seemed to exist between the 
Sukia and Antonio. This relationship, however, 
was fully explained in the sequel. Among the 
ruling and the priestly classes of the semi-civilized 
nations of America, there has always existed a mys- 
terious bond, or secret organization, which all the 
disasters to which they have been subjected, have 
not destroyed. It is to its present existence that 
we may attribute those simultaneous movements of 
the aborigines of Mexico, Central America, and 
Peru, which have, more than once, threatened the 
complete subversion of the Spanish power. 

It was past midnight when, with a new and 
deeper insight into the mysteries of our present and 
future existence, and a fuller and loftier apprecia- 
tion of the great realities which are to follow upon 
the advent of every soul into the universe, and of 
which earth is scarcely the initiation, that H. and 
myself left the sanctuary of the Suhia. The moon 
had risen, and now silvered every object with its 
steady light, revealing to us that we stood uj)on a 
narrow teiTace of the mountain, facing the east, and 
commanding a vast panorama of forest and savan- 
nah, bounded only by the distant sea. Immediately 
in front of the hut from which we had emerged, 
stood one of the ruined structures to which I have 



SANCTUARY OF THE SUKIA. 



259 



already alluded. By the clear light of the moon I 
could perceive that it was built of large stones^ laid 
with the greatest regularity^ and sculptured all over 
with strange figures, having a close resemblance, if 
not an absolute identity, with those which have be- 
come familiarized to us by the pencil of Catherwood. 




THE SANCTUARY OF T H 1 : 



It appeared originally to have been of two stories, 
bu^t the upper walls had fallen, and the ground was 
encumbered with the rubbish, over which vines were 
trailing, as if to vail the crumbling ruins from the 
gaze of men. As we moved away, and at a con- 
siderable distance from the ruins, we observed a 
large erect stone, rudely sculptured in the outline 



260 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

of a human figure. Its face was turned to tte 
East, as if to catch the fii^st rays of the morning, 
and the light of the moon fell full upon it. To my 
surprise, its features were the exact counterparts of 
those which appeared on Antonio's talisman. There 
was no mistaking the rigid yet not ungentle ex- 
pression of the " Lord who never lies.'' 

Silently we followed the guide, who had con- 
ducted us up the mountain, into the narrow path 
which led to the village. She indicated to us the 
direction we were to pursue with her hand, and left 
us without a word. I was so absorbed in my own 
reflections that it was not until we had reached our 
temporary quarters that I missed Antonio. He had 
remained behind. But when I awoke next' morn- 
ing he had returned, and was busily preparing for 
our dej)arture, " It is well with our brothers of the 
mountains !" was his prompt response to my look 
of inquiry. From that day forward his absorbing 
idea seemed to be to return as speedily as posible to 
his people. It was long afterward that I discovered 
the deep significance of the visit of the youthful 
chieftain of the Itzaes to the Indian seeress of the 
Eiver Bocay. Since then the Spaniard, though 
fenced round with bayonets, has often shuddered 
when he has heard the cry of the tiger in the still- 
ness of the night, betraying the approach of those 
injured men, whose relentless arms, nerved by the 
recollections of three centuries of oppression, now 
threaten the utter extermination of the race of the 
conquerors ! 



NUEVA SEGOVIA. 261 

Our passage down the Bocay was rapid compared 
with the ascent, and at noon we had reached the 
great river. My course now lay in one direction, 
and that of Mr. H. in another, but we were loth to 
separate, and he finally agreed to accompany us to 
our first stopping-place, and, passing the night with 
us there, return next day to the Cape. It was 
scarcely four o'clock when we reached the desig- 
nated point, chiefly remarkable as marking the 
termination of the savannahs. Beyond here the 
banks of the river became elevated, rising in hills 
and high mountains, densely covered with a gigan- 
tic primeval forest. Our Indian companions speed- 
ily supplied us with an abundance of fish, with 
which the river seemed to swarm. And as for vege- 
tables — wherever the banks of the river are low there 
is a profusion of bananas and plantains, growing 
from bulbs, which have been brought down from the 
interior, and deposited by the river in its overflows. 

Mr. H. had once ascended the river to its source, 
in the elevated mining district of New Segovia, the 
extreme north-western department of Nicaragua. 
The ascent had occupied him twenty days. In 
many places, he said, the channel is completely in- 
terrupted by falls and impassable rapids, around 
which it was necessary to drag the canoes. In 
other places th|, river is compressed between verti- 
cal walls of rock, and the water runs with such 
force that it required many attempts and the most 
vigorous exertions to get the boats through. 

He represented that New Segovia has a consider- 



262 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

able population of civilized Indians^ whose princi- 
pal occupation is the washing of gold, which is 
found in all of the upper waters. Their mode of 
life he described as affording a curious illustration of 
the influence of the Catholic j>riests, who are scat- 
tered here and there, and who exercise almost un- 
bounded influence over the simple natives. The 
nature of their relationship, as well as their own 
manners, were so well illustrated by an incident 
which befell him during his visit there, that I shall 
attempt to relate it, as nearly as possible in his own 
words. The reader must bear in mind that the re- 
cital was made in a fragmentary manner, in the in- 
tervals of vigorous puffing at a huge cigar, and that 
I have taken the liberty of commencing at the be- 
ginning of the story, and not at the end. 

" On our nineteenth evening from the Cape,'' 
said H., '^ after a fatiguing day of alternate poling 
and paddling, we reached Pantasma, the extreme 
frontier Segovian settlement on the river. As we 
drew up to the bank, thankful for the pros|)ect of 
shelter and rest which the village held out, we were 
surprised to hear the music of drums and ]3ipes, 
and, for a moment, were under the pleasing im- 
pression that the people had, in some way, got in- 
formation of our approach, and had taken this 
mode of giving us a welcome. However, we soon 
saw that the musicians were in attendance on a 



A TALE OF WANKS RIVER. 263 

white man, whose garb had a strange mixture of 
civilized and savage fashions. He regarded us curi- 
ously for a few moments, and then, giving the near- 
est musicians each a vigorous kick, he ran down to 
the water, and bestowed upon all of us an equally 
hearty embrace ! Propounding a dozen inquiries 
in a breath, he announced himself an Englishman 
^ in a d — I of a ^x,' whose immediate and over- 
shadowing ambition was, that all hands should go 
straight to his hut and have something to drink ! 
Our first impression was decidedly that the man 
was mad ; but we were undeceived when we got to 
his house, which we found profusely supplied with 
food, and where we were not long in making our- 
selves thoroughly at home. Perhaps what we drank 
had something to do with it, but certainly we near- 
ly died with laughter in listening to our host's re- 
cital of his adventures in Central America, and 
especially of the way in which he had got to Pan- 
tasma, and came to have an escort of musicians. 

" His name, he said, was Harry F . He 

was the son of a London merchant, who was well 
to do in the world. As usual with sons of such 
papas, he had gone to school when younger, and 
entered his father's establishment when old enough, 
where, as the probable successor of the principal, 
he was, in his own estimation at least, an important 
personage, and, altogether, above work. He never- 
theless affected a great liking for the packing de- 
partment, for the reason that it connected with a 
vault, in which he had established a smoking-room, 



264 THE MOSQUITO SHORE 

where he spent the day in devising plans of amuse- 
ment for the nighty in company with chosen spirits 
and choice Havanas. 

" When he had reached his majority, his father 
thought it prudent to detach him from his associa- 
tions, by giving him a little experience in the sever- 
ities of the world. Having several friends in Belize, 
he fitted him out with an adventure, costing some 
twenty-five hundred dollars, and consisting of 
nearly every useless article that could be found, 
which, by its glitter and gaud, it was supposed, 
would attract the easily-dazzled eyes of the people 
of the tropics. He duly arrived at Belize, full of 
bright anticipations. One of his cherished schemes 
was to sell his jewelry in the towns of the interior, 
at four hundred per cent, profit, and after paying 
expenses and losses, to return at once to London, 
with five thousand dollars clear profit ! So he went 
to Guatemala, and spread out his tempting wares. 
But he met with poor success, and at the end of 
two years, having gone on from bad to worse, he at 
last found himself in the Indian town where we 
discovered him — a Catholic Mission, under a Kev- 
erend Padre, who had been educated at Leon, and 
had passed most of his simple life, being now over 
threescore and ten, among the simple Indians, 
whom he governed. When Harry first arrived, he 
proceeded to the nearest hut, where the usual hospi- 
tality of room to hang his hammock was accorded 
him, while his valise was installed in a corner — said 
valise containing the remnants of the venture from 



A TALE OF WANKS RIVER. 265 

London, now dwindled down to a very small 
compass indeed. Of his success in trading, Harry 
spoke very frankly : ^ The hardest lot of worthless 
articles I ever saw ; some that I could not even 
give away ; and those which I sold, I had to trust to 
people so poor that they never paid me ! So I let 
one man pick out all he had a mind to, for one 
thousand dollars in cash ; and that paid my expen- 
ses in Guatemala, until I got tired of the place, and 
started off down here/ 

"After swinging his hammock in his new quar- 
ters, Harry made the tour of the village, and called 
on the padre, who was delighted to see him, as 
padres always are, took him to his church, which 
was as large as a city parlor, and then gave him a 
good dinner of fish and turtle. Harry had not had 
so sumptuous a meal for many a day ; and when 
the good father brought forth a joint of bamboo, 
which held nearly a gallon, and drew from it a 
supply of tolerable rum, he felt that he had fallen 
into the hands of a good Samaritan. So long as 
this hospitality lasted, he sought no change. In 
the fullness of his gratitude, he made visits to all 
the huts in the village, and overwhelmed the 
inmates with presents of articles which he had not 
been able to give away in other places. In return, 
they gave him part of a morning's fishing, or part 
of a turtle, and thus kept him in provisions. But 
times changed after a few days ; his friend the 
padre ceased to bring forth the bamboo joint, and 
at the same time commenced to exhort him to 

1^ 



266 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

repentance, and to the acceptance of the true 
church. His host, too, declined to catch any more 
fish than were consumed by his interesting wife and 
three naked children. 

" Harry smoked long and intensely over the sub- 
ject. He might make a ^ raise ' on a pair of panta- 
loons, but then, ^ when that was gone ?' It was 
the first time in his life that he had been obliged 
seriously to reflect how he should be able to get his 
next meal. He tried oranges, bananas, and pine- 
apples, but still he was hungry. As to fishing, he 
had never caught a fish in his life, and a turtle 
would be perfectly safe under his feet. His case 
became desperate. Such cases require desperate 
remedies, and Harry went to the padre, to consult 
with him as to the best mode of reaching Leon, dis- 
tant some two hundred miles, beyond the mountains. 

" It was a lucky moment for a visit to the reverend 
father, since, in return for some hides, sarsaparilla, 
and balsam, sent by him to his correspondent, the 
padre at Choluteca, a large town on the Pacific, he 
had received, among other luxuries, a reenforcement 
of bamboo joints. These had already added to his 
good humor, and given to his fat corporation and 
ruddy face an unusual glow. He gave Harry a 
warm greeting, and pointing to the broached joint, 
told him to help himself, which he did without re- 
serve. Harry, in his best, though very bad Span- 
ish, stated his case, and the holy father listened 
and replied. The next morning our hero awoke, 
and was rather surprised to find himself yet at the 



A TALE OF WANKS RIVER. 26T 

padre's house, where he had slept in a hammock. 
An empty bamboo joint was beside him, and he 
had a glimmering idea of a compact with the 
padre, through which he was to be extricated from 
his present uncomfortable position, and reach Leon 
in a most acceptable manner. But how this was to 
be done had escaped him ; he had only a faint rec- 
ollection that the padre had insisted upon initiating 
him into some mystery or other, and that in the 
fullness of heart he had assented, to the great joy of 
the priest, who, on the spot had given him a hearty 
embrace, and commenced learning him how to 
make the sign of the cross. The worthy padre 
awoke with rather different sensations, for he felt 
exalted with the thought that he, a poor priest over 
a miserable Indian community for forty years, 
should finally be able to rescue the soul of a heretic 
from the arch enemy. He was thankful that his 
eloquence had enabled him to attach an immortal 
being to the true church — a white one at that, who 
was of more value than a whole community of sav- 
ages. It was a miracle, he was satisfied, of his 
patron saint, Leocadia ! So without loss of time 
he proceeded with the work of redemption. Harry 
proved an apt disciple ; and after making up a lot 
of cigars from the tobacco-pouch of the padre, the 
latter proceeded to explain to him what he required 
in the premises. Harry's mouth opened, and his 
cigar fell unheeded to the ground, when the padre 
announced his intention to administer to him th(^ 
rite of baptism without delay. 



268 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 

" By the time lie had finished his explanation, 
Harry^s mind was made up ; as there were no look- 
ers on whom he cared for, he would let the padre 
have his way, or, as he afterward expressed it, 
^ put him through/ 

" For several days the padre and himself worked 
hard. He went carefully over the various responses 
and prayers, as they were dictated to him, made 
the sign of the cross in due form and proper place, 
and, by the assistance of the hamboo joint, was, on 
the second day pronounced in a hopeful state, and 
told that the afternoon following should witness the 
final act of his salvation. The sun was declining, 
when Harry, habited in his best, proceeded to the 
padre's house. He was rather surprised at meeting 
so many people, for he had not been consulted in 
any of the arrangements, and was not aware that 
every native in the vicinity had been notified of the 
ceremony in which he was to take so important a 
part. All had come, men, women, and children, 
dressed in very scanty, but very clean white cotton 
garments. They opened a passage for him to enter 
the padre's house, whom he found arrayed in his 
priestly vestments. He was informed that all were 
about proceeding to his house to escort him to the 
church, but that, being on the spot, the procession 
would form at once. Harry submitted without 
question to the padre's directions, had a quiet in- 
terview with the bamboo joint, and was ready. 
The procession was headed by four alcaldes, of dif- 
ferent villages, each with his official baton, a tall, 



A TALE OF WANKS KIVER. 269 

gold-headed staff. Next came the music, consisting 
of three performers on rude clarionets, made of long 
joints of cane, and three performers on drums, each 
made of a large calabash with a monkey-skin drawn 
over it. Next came Harry and the worthy padre, 
and then the people of the village, and the ' invited 
guests,' six deep, and a hundred all told. When 
our hero took his place in the procession, the padre 
threw over his shoulders a poncho, six feet long, 
gaudily decorated with the tails of macaws, bright 
feathers from strange birds, and strings of small 
river-shells, which rattled at every step ; and thus 
they started. First they went to Harry's own hut, 
and, as they doubled that, and took their route 
toward the church, he could see the last of the pro- 
cession leaving the vicinity of the padre's house. 
After the manner of their processions on high relig- 
ious festivals, they came singing and dancing, and 
altogether appearing very happy. Harry was glad 
in his heart that no white man was looking on, and 
had to laugh inwardly at the fuss that was made 
over him. In due time they arrived at the church, 
and the usual ceremonies of baptism were gone 
through with, succeeded by a dance, on the grass, 
to say nothing of a liberal dispensation from the 
padre's bamboo joints. The padre dismissed the 
assembly very early, and retired, never having had 
so glorious or so fatiguing a day within his memory, 
and he was the oldest inhabitant ! 

" Harry wended his way to his hammock, made 
a cigar, thought over the events of the day, and 



270 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

wondered whether the church was now bound to 
find him fish and the et ceteras ; but, before any 
conclusion could be come at in his mind, he fell 
asleep. Awaking in the morning, he was accosted 
at his door by several neighbors, who asked him' to 
accept the presents they had brought, which he did 
of course, without knowing that it is always the 
custom to send something to every villager when- 
ever he happens to have a christening, a marriage, 
or a death in his family. This being a very great 
occasion, every body had been liberal and generous 
withal, and in a short space he found himself sup- 
plied with provisions for a long time, more fish than 
he could eat in months, turtles, chickens, pigs, 
eggs, piles of fruit of aU kinds, yams, wild animals, 
in fact every thing that was edible. Sending a 
large part of his presents as an offering to the 
church, Harry returned to his hammock and cigar, 
while his hostess commenced cooking with an agree- 
able alacrity. 

" Late in the afternoon he started for the padre's 
house, but had hardly emerged from his hut when 
he was somewhat surprised to find himself joined 
by the musicians of the village, the clarionet taking 
precedence, and the drum filing in, both playing 
the usual no-tune to the best of their ability. And 
thus it happened for weeks afterward, for thus did 
the padre seek to do honor to the new disciple of 
the faith. 

" It was on one of these formal promenades," 
continued H., "that we made our appearance at 



A TALE OF WANKS RIVER. 271 

Pantasma, to Harry's exceeding astonishment, and 
great joy. We ridiculed him for his emphatic dis- 
missal of his musical friends, hut he was too much 
delighted to he captious, and sent straightway for 
the padre, who hrought with him a hamhoo-joint, 
wherewith we made merry, even to the going down 
of the sun. We all went to sleep while the worthy 
priest was reading to us the certificate of Harry's 
baptism, which he had carefully engrossed on five 
closely-written pages.'' 

And what, I inquired, became of the convert ? 

" Oh ! he returned with us ; and that old Port 
which you tasted at the Cape is one of the many 
evidences which I have received of his grateful 
recollection, since he has returned to London to 
the inheritance of his fathers." 





|FOR three days after our parting 
with H., we kept on our course up 
the Great Cape river. The cur- 
rent increased as we advanced, and 
large rocks of quartz and granite began to appear 
in the channel. The valley of the river also con- 
tracted to such a degree as to deserve no better 
name than that of a gorge. Sometimes we found 
ourselves, for miles together, shut in between high 
mountains, whose rugged and verdureless tops rose 
to mid-heaven, intei-posing impassable barriers to 
the vapor-charged clouds which the north-east trade- 
winds pile up against their eastern declivities, where 



TROPICAL THUNDER-STORMS. 273 

they are precipitated in almost unceasing rains. 
Night and storm overtook us in one of these gigan- 
tic mountain clefts. The thunder rolled along the 
granite peaks, and the lightning burned adown 
their riven sides, and were flashed hack by the 
dark waters of the angry river. The dweller in 
northern latitudes can poorly comprehend any de- 
scription which may be given of a tropical storm. 
To say that the thunder is incessant, does not ade- 
quately convey to the mind the terror of these pro- 
longed peals which seem to originate in the horizon, 
roll upward to the zenith, louder and louder, until, 
silent for a moment, they burst upon the earth in 
blinding flame, and a concentrated crash, which 
makes the very mountains reel to their foundations. 
Not from one direction alone, but from every quar- 
ter of the compass, the elements seem to gather to 
the fierce encounter, and the thunder booms, and 
the lightning blazes from a hundred rifts in the 
inky sky. So intense and searing is the electric 
flame, that for hours after heavy storms I have had 
spasmodic attacks of blindness, accompanied with 
intense pain of the eyeballs. I found that my In- 
dian companions were equally affected, and that to 
avoid evil consequences they always bound their 
handkerchiefs, dipped in water, over their eyes, 
while the storm continued. The Indians, I may 
here mention, have many prejudices on the subject 
of electricity, as well as in regard to the effect of the 
rays of the moon. They will not sleep with their faces 
exposed to its light, nor catch fish on the nights when 

12* 



' 2T4 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

it is above the horizon. My companions, at such 
times, always selected the densest shade for our en- 
campment. They affirmed that the effect of expos- 
ure would he the distortion of the features, and the 
immediate mortification of such wounds and bruises 
as might be reached by the moonlight. I after- 
ward found that the mahogany-cutters on the 
north coast never felled their trees at certain periods 
of the moon, for the reason, as they asserted, that 
the timber was then not only more liable to check 
or split, but also more exposed to rot. They have 
the same notion with the Indians as to the effect of 
the moonlight on men and animals, and support it 
by the fact that animals, left to themselves, al- 
ways seek shelter from the moon, when selecting 
their nightly resting-places. 

We had now ascended the river, five full days 
from the Cape, having, according to my computa- 
tion, advanced one hundred and twenty miles. The 
Poyer was perfectly acquainted with the stream, 
which he had several times descended with the peo- 
ple of his village, in their semi-annual visits to the 
coast. In these visits, he told me, they took down 
liquid amber, a few deer-skins, a little anotto, and 
sarsaparilla, bringing back iron barbs for their ar- 
rows, knives, machetes, and a few articles of orna- 
ment. 

On the night of the fifth day, we encamped at 
the mouth of the Tirolas, a considerable stream, 
which enters the Wanks from the north, and up 
which we, next morning, took our course. Our ad- 



RIVER TIROLAS. 275 

vance was now slow and laborious, owing to the 
rapidity of the current, and the numerous rocks 
and fallen trees which obstructed the channel. 
The river wound among hills, which increased in 
altitude as we penetrated farther inland, until I 
discovered that we were approaching the great 
mountain range, which traverses the country from 
south-west to north-east, constituting the " divide," 
or water-shed, as I afterward found, between the 
valley of the Cape Eiver and the streams which 
flow northward into the Bay of Honduras. Hour 
by hour we came nearer to this great barrier, which 
presented to us a steep and apparently inaccessible 
front. I was rather appalled when my Poyer told 
me that the village of his people lay beyond this 
range, over which we would be obliged to climb in 
ord,er to reach it. However, there was now no al- 
ternative left but to go ahead, so I gave myself no 
further concern, although I could not help wonder- 
ing how we were to clamber up the dizzy steeps 
which appeared more and more abrupt as we ap- 
proached them. 

It was on the second evening after leaving the 
great river, that we reached the head of canoe navi- 
gation on the Tirolas, at a point where two bright 
streams, tumbling over their rocky beds, united in 
a placid pool of clear water, at the very feet of the 
mountains. It was a spot of surpassing beauty. 
The pool was, perhaps, a hundred yards broad, and, 
in places, twenty or thirty feet deep, yet so clear 
that every pebble at the bottom, and every fish 



276 



THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 



which sported in its crystal depths^ were distinctly- 
visible to the eye. Upon one side rose huge gray 
rocks of granite, draped over with vines, and shad- 
owed by large and wide-spreading trees, whose 
branches, crowded with the wax-like leaves and 




EMBARCADERO ON THE TIROLAS. 



flowers of innumerable air-plants, cast dark, broad 
shadows on the water. Upon the other side was a 
smooth, sandy beach, completely sheltered from the 
sun by large trees, beneath which were drawn up a 
number of canoes, carefully protected from the 
weather by rude sheds of cahoon leaves. These 



TIROLAS EMBARCADERO. 277 

canoes TDelonged to the Poyer Indians, and are 
used by them in their voyages to the Cape. A 
little lower down the stream were clusters of palm- 
trees, and large patches of bananas and plantains, 
which seemed to have been carefully nurtured by 
the Indians in their visits to this picturesque " em- 
barcadero." 

The slant rays of the evening sun fell upon one 
half of the pool, where the little ripples chased 
each other sparkling to the shore, while upon the- 
other part, the rocks and forest cast their cool, dark 
shadows. And as our canoe shot in upon its trans- 
parent bosom, I could not help joining in my 
Poyer boy's shout of joy. Even '' El Moro" flut- 
tered his bright wings, and screamed in sympathetic 
glee. A few vigorous strokes of the paddles, and 
our canoe drove up half its length on the sandy 
shore, the sharp pebbles grating pleasantly beneath 
its keel. For the present, at least, I had done with 
lagoons and rivers, and a new excitement awaited 
me among the giddy steeps and untracked solitudes 
of the mountains. Farewell now to the cramped 
canoe, and the eternal succession of low and tan- 
gled banks ; and ho, for the free limb and the ex- 
panding chest of the son of the forest ! 

With glad alacrity, my companions and myself 
set to work to form our encampment, on the clean 
dry sand. Then came Antonio, laden with the 
golden clusters of the plantain, while the spear of 
the Poyer darted down in the clear waters of the 
pool with unfailing skill. The rousing fire, the 



278 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

murmur of the mountain-torrents, and tlie distant 
cry of tlie fierce black tiger, the satisfied sense of 
having safely accomplished an arduous undertaking, 
high anticipations of new adventures, and the con- 
sciousness of being the first white man who had 
ever trusted himself in these unknown fastnesses — 
all these, joined to the contagious joy of my faith- 
ful companions, combined to give the keenest edge 
and zest to that night's enjoyment. In my darkest 
hours, its recollection comes over my soul like a 
beam of sunlight through the rifts of a clouded 
sky — " a joy forever.'' Blessed memory, which en- 
ables us to live over again the delights of the past, 
and gives an eternal solace to the cheerful mind ! 

That night I made a formal present of the canoe 
and its appurtenances to my Poyer boy, and we se- 
lected such articles as were indispensable to us, 
leaving the rest to be sent for by the Indians when 
we should reach the village. My purpose was to 
commence our march at dawn on the following day. 
But in the morning I arose with one of my feet so 
swollen and painful that I could neither put on my 
boot nor walk, except with great difficulty. The 
cause was, outwardly, very trifling. During the 
previous day the water in the Tirolas had been so 
shallow that it frequently became necessary to get 
out of the canoe and lighten it, in order to pass the 
various rapids. I had therefore taken off my boots, 
and gone into the water with my naked feet. I re- 
member stepping on a rolling stone, slipping off, 
and bruising my ankle. The hurt was, however, so 



AN ACCIDENT. 279 

slight, that I did not give it a second thought. 
But, from this trifling cause, my foot and ankle 
were now swollen to nearly double their natural 
size, and the prosecution of my journey, for the time 
being, was rendered impossible. Under the tropics, 
serious consequences often follow from these slight 
causes. I have known tetanus to result from a lit- 
tle wound, of the size of a pea, made by extracting 
the bag of a nigua or chigoe, which had burrowed 
in the foot ! 

The skill of my companions was at once put in 
requisition. They made a poultice of ripe plan- 
tains baked in the ashes, and mixed with cocoa-nut 
oil, which was applied hot to the affected parts. This 
done, our canoe was hauled up, and an extempore 
roof built over it, to protect me from the weather, 
in case it should happen to change for the worse. 
I passed a fretful night, the pain being very great, 
and the swelling extending higher and higher, until 
it had reached the knee. The applications had no 
perceptible effect. Under these circumstances, I 
determined to send my Poyer to his village for as- 
sistance. He represented it as distant five days, 
but that it could be reached, by forced marches, in 
four. He objected to leave me, but on the second 
day, my foot being no better, he obeyed my positive 
orders, and started, taking with him only a little 
dried meat, his spear, and his bow. 

Antonio now redoubled his attentions, and I cer- 
tainly stood in need of them. The pain kept me 
from slumber, and I became irritable and feverish. 



280 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

But no mother could have been more constant, 
more patient, or more wakeful to every want than 
that faithful Indian boy. He exhausted his simple 
remedies, and still the limb became worse, and the 
■unwilling; conviction seemed to be forced on his 
mind, that the case was beyond his reach. When, 
in the intervals of the j)ain, he thought me slumber- 
ing, I often saw him consult his talisman with un- 
disguised anxiety. He however, always seemed to 
feel reassured by it, and to become more cheerful. 

On the third day a suppuration appeared at 
the ankle, and the pain and swelling diminished ; 
and on the succeeding morning I probed the wound, 
and, to my surprise, removed a small splinter of 
stone, which had been the cause of all my affliction. 
From that moment my improvement was rapid, and 
I was soon able to move about without difficulty. 

I amused myself much with fishing in the pool, 
in which there were large numbers of an active kind 
of fish, varying from ten to sixteen inches in length, 
of reddish color, and voracious ap2:)etites. Toward 
evening, when the flies settled down near the sur- 
face, they rose like the trout, and kept the pool 
boiling with their swift leaping after their prey. I 
improved my limited experience in fly-fishing at 
home, to devise improm23tu insects, and astonished 
Antonio with that, to him, novel device in the pis- 
catory art. These fish, with an occasional wild tur- 
key, the latter generally tough and insipid, consti- 
tuted about our only food. Ducks, curiews, and 
snipe, so common in the vicinity of the lagoons, 



A STEANGE ADVENTURE. 281 

were here unknown, and we listened in vain for the 
cry of the chaclialaca. There were, however, numer- 
ous birds of song, and of bright plumage, but not 
fit for food. I saw some owls ; and now and then 
a large hawk would settle down sullenly on the trees 
which overhung the pool. Gray-squirrels also occa- 
sionally rustled the branches above our heads, but 
the foliage was so dense that I was only successful 
in obtaining a single specimen. Once a squadron 
of monkeys came trooping through the tree-tops to 
rob the plantain-grove, but a charge of buckshot, 
which brought two of them to the ground, was ef- 
fectual in deterring them from a second visit. They 
were of a small variety, body black, face white, and 
"whiskered like a pard."" Antonio cooked one of 
them in the sand, but he looked so much like a 
singed baby which I once saw taken out of the ruins 
of a fire in Ann- street, that I could not bring my- 
self to taste him. So my Indian had an undisputed 
monopoly of the monkey. 

But the most exciting incident, connected with 
our stay on the banks of the Tirolas, was one which 
I can never recall without going into a fit of laugh- 
ter — although, at the time, I did not regard it as re- 
markably amusing. Among the wild animals most 
common in Central America, is the peccary^ some- 
times called "Mexican hog," but best known by 
the Spanish name of Savalino. There is another 
animal, something similar to the peccary, supposed 
to be the common hog run wild, called Javalino by 
the Spaniards, and Waree by the Mosquitos. If not 



282 . THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

indigenous, the latter certainly have multiplied to 
an enormous extent, since they swarm all over the 
more thickly- wooded portions of the country. They 
closely resemble the wild-boar of Europe, and, al- 
though less in size, seem to be equally ferocious. 
They go in droves, and are not at all particular as 
to their food, eating ravenously snakes and reptiles 
of all kinds. They have also a rational relish for 
fruits, and especially for plantains and bananas, 
and would prove a real scourge to the plantations, 
were they always able to break down the stalks sup- 
porting the fruit. Unable to do this, they never- 
theless pay regular visits to the plantations, in the 
hope of finding a tree blown down, and of feasting 
on the fallen clusters. 

With these intimations as to their character and 
habits, the reader will be better qualified to appre- 
ciate the incident alluded to. It was a pleasant 
afternoon, and I had strolled off with my gun, in 
the direction of the plantain-patch, stopping occasion- 
ally to listen to the clear, flute-like notes of some 
unseen bird, or to watch a brilliant lizard, as it flashed 
across the gray stones. Thus sauntering carelessly 
along, my attention was suddenly arrested by a pe- 
culiar noise, as if of some animal, or rather of many 
animals engaged in eating. I stopped, and peered 
in every direction to discover the cause, when finally 
my eyes rested upon what I at once took to be a 
pig of most tempting proportions. He was moving 
slowly, with his nose to the ground, as if in search 
of food. Without withdrawing my gaze, I carefully 



BATTLE OF THE PIGS! 283 

raised my gun, and fired. It was loaded witli buck- 
shot, and although the animal fell, he rose again 
immediately, and began to make off. Of course I 
hurried after him, with the view of finishing my 
work with my knife — but I had not taken ten steps, 
when it appeared to me as if every stick, stone, and 
bush had been converted into a pig ! Hogs rose on 
all sides, with bristling backs, and tusks of appall- 
ing length. I comprehended my danger in an 
instant, and had barely time to leap into the forks 
of a low, scraggy tree, before they were at its foot. 
I shall never forget the malicious look of their little 
bead-like eyes, as they raved around my roosting- 
place, and snapped ineffectually at my heels. Al- 
though I felt pretty se- 
cure, I discreetly clam- 
bered higher, and, fixing 
myself firmly in my seat, 
revenged myself by firing 
a charge of bird-shot in 
the face of the savagest of t h e w a r e e . 

my assailants. This insult 

only excited the brutes the more, and they ground 
their teeth, and frothed around the tree in a perfect 
paroxysm of porcine rage. 

I next loaded both barrels of my gun with ball, 
and deliberately shot two others through their 
heads, killing them on the spot, vainly imagining 
that thereby I should disperse the herd. But never 
was man more mistaken. The survivors nosed 
around their dead companions for a moment, and 




284 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

then renewed their vicious contemplations of my 
position. Some squatted themselves upon their 
hams, as much as to say that they intended to 
wait for me, and were nowise in a hurry ! So I 
loaded up again, and slaughtered two more of the 
largest and most spiteful. But, even then, there 
were no signs of retreat ; on the contrary, it seemed 
to me as if reenforcements sprang out of the ground, 
and that my besiegers grew every moment more nu- 
merous ! 

How long this might have lasted, I am unpre- 
pared to say, had not Antonio, alarmed at my 
rapid firing, hastened to my rescue. No sooner did 
my assailants catch sight of his swarthy figure than 
they made after him with a vehement rush. He 
avoided them by leaping upon a rock, and then com- 
menced a most extraordinary and murderous contest. 
Never did a battalion of veteran soldiers charge 
upon an enemy, with more steadiness than those 
wild pigs upon the Indian. He was armed with 
only a lance, but every blow brought down a porker. 
Half alarmed lest they should finally overmatch 
him, I cheered his exploits, and kept up a brisk 
fii-e by way of a diversion in his favor. I am 
ashamed to say how many of those pigs we killed ; 
it is, perhaps, enough to add, that it was long after 
dark before the beasts made up their minds to leave 
us uneaten. And it was with a decided sensation 
of rehef that we heard them moving off, until their 
low grunt was lost in the distance. 

At one time, the odds were certainly against us, 



DEPARTURE FROM THE TIROLAS. 285 

and it seemed not improbable that the artist and 
his adventures might both come to a pitiful and far 
from a poetical end. But fortune favored^ and my 
faithful gun now hangs over my table in boar-tusk 
brackets^ triumphal trophies from that bloody 
field ! Instead of being eaten, we ate, wherein 
consists a difference ; but I was ever after wary of 
the war eel 

True to his promise, on the evening of the tenth 
day, my Poyer boy bounded into our encampment, 
with a, loud shout of joy. His friends were behind, 
and he said would reach us in the following after- 
noon. There were ^nq of them, sober, silent men, 
who made their encampment apart from us, and 
whom I vainly endeavored to engage in conversa- 
tion. They displayed great aptness in packing our 
various articles in net-work sacks, which they car- 
ried on their backs, supported by bands passing 
around their foreheads. They wore no clothes ex- 
cept the tournou, unless sandals of tapir-hide, and 
a narrow-brimmed hat, braided of palm-bark, fall 
within that denomination. Besides his sack, each 
man carried a peculiar kind of machete, short and 
curved like a pruning-hook ; only one or two had 
bows. 

It was with real regret that I left our encamp- 
ment beside the bright pool, and abandoned my old 
and now familiar canoe, in the sides of which, like 
a true Yankee, I had carved my name, and the 
dates of my adventures. I turned to look back 
more than once, as we filed away, beneath the 



286 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

trees, in tlie trail leading to the mountains. The 
Indians led the way, while Antonio and myself 
brought up the rear. " El Moro/' perched upon the 
tallest pack, shrieked and fluttered his wings, occa- 
sionally scrambling down to take a mischievous bite 
at the ear of his Indian carrier. Whenever he was 
successful in accomplishing this feat, he became 
superlatively happy and gleeful. In default of 
other amusement, he sometimes suspended himself 
from the netting by a single claw, like a dead bird, 
with drooping wings and dangling head, and then 
suddenly scrambled back again to his perch, with 
triumphant screams. He was a rare rollicking bird, 
that same Moro \ 

For the first day our course followed a line nearly 
parallel with the base of the mountains, through a 
thick and tangled forest. We crossed innumerable 
small and rapid streams of the clearest water, spark- 
ling over beds of variously-colored quartz pebbles — 
for we were now skirting one of the great ranges of 
primitive rocks, which form the nucleus of the con- 
tinent. My long confinement in the canoe had con- 
tributed to disquahfy me for active exertions, and 
long before night I became much fagged, and would 
fain have gone into camp. But the Indians trav- 
eled so tranquilly under their loads, that I was loth 
to discover to them my lack of endurance, and so 
kept on without complaint. In the afternoon our 
path began to ascend, and we gradually emerged 
from the thick and tangled woods into a compara- 
tively open forest, which, in turn, gave place to 



THE MOUNTAIN SIDE. 287 

groves of scattered pines and oaks, among whicli we 
encamped for the night. 

From our elevated position I could overlook the 
wilderness which we had traversed during the day. 
It was at that season of the year when the erytlirina 
puts on its scarlet robe of blossoms, and the ceiba 
clothes itself in flames, in splendid relief to the pre- 
vailing green. It seemed as if Nature held high 
holiday among these primeval solitudes, and arrayed 
herself only to wanton in the sense of her own 
beauty. But while vegetation was thus lavishly 
luxuriant in the valley, behind us the mountains 
rose, stern, steep, and bare. Vainly the dark pines, 
clinging to their sides, sought to vail their flinty 
frown. Wherever a little shelf of the rocks sup- 
ported a scanty bed of soil, there the mountain 
grasses, and the sensitive-plant with its amaranth- 
ine flower, took root, like kindly thoughts in the 
heart of the hard and worldly man. From the 
gnarled oaks, and even from the unfading pines, 
hung long festoons of gray moss, whicK swayed 
sadly in the wind. And when the night came on, 
and I lay down beside the fire, beneath their shade, 
they seemed to murmur in a low and mournful 
voice to the passing breeze, which, laden with the 
perfume of the valley, rose with downy wings to 
bear its tributary incense to the skies. 

Morning broke, but dark and gloomily, and al- 
though we resumed our march, directing our course 
diagonally up the face of the mountain, we were 
obliged to stop before noon, and seek shelter under 



288 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

a mass of projecting rocks, from a cold, drizzly rain, 
which now began to fall steadily, with every prom- 
ise of merging in a protracted temporal. The 
clouds ran low, and drifted around and below us, in 
heavy, cheerless volumes, shutting from view every 
object except the pines and stunted oaks, in their 
gray, monastic robes, now saturated and heavy from 
the damp. Stowing our few valuables securely un- 
der the rocks, we lighted a fire, now acceptable not 
less for its heat than its companionship. Its cheer- 
ful flame, and the sparkle of its embers, revived 
my drooping spirits, and helped to reconcile me to 
the imprisonment which the temporal would be 
sure to entail. I can readily understand how fire 
commended itself to the primitive man as an em- 
blem of purity and power, and became the symbol 
of spirit and those invisible essences which pervade 
the universe. Grod robed himself in flame on Si- 
nai ; in tongues of flame the Spirit descended upon 
the disciples at Jerusalem ; an eternal fire burned 
upon the altars of the virginal Yesta, and in the 
Persian Pyi'othea ; to fire was committed the sacri- 
fice of propitiation, and by its ordeal was innocence 
and purity made manifest. Among the American 
Indians it was held in especial reverence. The 
Delawares and the Iroquois had festivals in its 
honor, and regarded it as the first parent of the In- 
dian nations. The Cherokees paid their devotions 
to the " great, beneficent, supreme, holy Spirit of 
Fire,'' whose home was in the heavens, but who 
dwelt also on earth, in the hearts of " the unpol- 



ANOTHEK TEMPOKAL. 289 

luted people." And even the rude Indians who 
huddled with me beneath the protecting rocks in 
the heart of the wilderness, never commenced their 
simple meals without first throwing a small portion 
of their food in the fire, as an offering to the pro- 
tecting Spirit of Life, of which it is the genial 
symbol. 

The temporal lasted for three days, during which 
time it rained almost incessantly, and it was withal 
so cold, that a large and constant fire was necessary 
to our comfort. At the end of that time the clouds 
began to lift, and the sun broke through the rifts, 
and speedily dispersed the watery legions. But the 
rocks were slippery with the wet, and the earth, 
wherever it was found among the rocks, was sodden 
and unstable, rendering our advance alike disagree- 
able and dangerous. We remained, therefore, until 
the morning of the fourth day, when we resumed 

our march. 

13 







:0R a day and a half we continued 
to ascend, now sMrting dizzy pre- 
cipiceSj and next stealing along 
cautiously beneath beethng rocks, 
which hung heavily on the brow of the mountain. 
The features of the great valley which we had left 
were no longer distinguishable. What we had re- 
garded as mountains there, now shrunk into simple 
undulations, like folds in some silken robe, thrown 
loosely on the ground. There was no longer a foot- 
hold for the pines, and their places were supplied 
by low bushes, thrusting theu' roots deep in the 
clefts, and clinging like vines to the faces of the 
rocks. 

Finally, to my great joy, we reached the crest of 
the mountain. Upon the north, however, it fell 



MOUNTAIN SCENERY. 291 

away in a series of broad steps or terraces, lower 
and lower, until, in the dim distance, it subsided in 
the vast alluvial plains bordering on the Bay of 
Honduras, the waters of which could be distin- 
guished, like a silver riro, on the edge of the hori- 
zon. 

The air, on these high plateaus, was chill, and 
only the hardy mountain-grasses and the various 
forms of cactus found root in their thin and sterile 
soil. The latter were numerous and singular. 
Some appeared above the earth, simple, fluted 
globes, radiating with spines, and having in their 
centre a little tuft of crimson flowers. Others were 
mere articulated prisms, tangled in clumps, and 
also bristling with prickles. But the variety^ known 
in Mexico as the nopal, was most abundant, and 
grew of tree-like proportions. 

Few as were these forms of vegetable hfe, ani- 
mals and birds were fewer still. An occasional deer 
contemplated us at a distance, and a little animal, 
similar to the prairie-dog of the West, tumbled 
hurriedly into his hole as we approached his soli- 
tary, covert. In places, the disintegrated quartz 
rock appeared above the surface for wide distances, 
reflecting back the rays of the sun, which seemed 
to pour down with unwonted and blinding bril- 
liancy, from a cloudless sky. I could scarcely com- 
prehend the sudden change from the region of the 
lagoons, where the overladen earth sweltered be- 
neath forests teeming with life, and the air was op- 
pressed with the cloying odors of myriads of flowers, 



292 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

and this stern region, ribbed with rock, where Na- 
ture herself seemed paralyzed, and silence held an 
eternal reign. 

It was a singular spectacle, that little troop of 
ours, as it hurried rapidly across these mountain 
wastes, or huddled closely together, when night 
came on, around a scanty fire, made of wood which 
the Poyer boy, with wise prevision, had deposited 
there, on his return to the Tirolas. As we descended 
from terrace to terrace, we came again into the region 
of pines and oaks, which, in their turn, gave place 
to forests of other varieties of trees, interrupted by 
strips of open or savannah lands. We early struck 
a little stream, which, I observed, we followed con- 
stantly. It proved to be the branch of the great 
river Patuca, upon which the Poyer village is sit- 
uated, and bore the musical name of GuaUambre. 
At night, when we encamped, the Poyer boy took a 
calabash, and, motioning to me to follow, led the 
way down the stream to a little sand-bar. Scoop- 
ing up some of the sand in his bowl, and then fill- 
ing it with water, he whirled it rapidly, so that a 
feathery stream of mingled sand and water flew 
constantly over its edge. He continued this opera- 
tion until the sand was nearly exhausted, and then 
filled the bowl again. After repeating this process 
several times, he grew more careful, balancing the 
bowl skillfully, and stopping occasionally to pick 
out the pebbles, which, owing to their weight, had 
not been carried over by the water. 

I understood at once that this was the primitive 



WASHING GOLD. 293 

mode of washing gold, and was, therefore, not 
greatly surprised when, after the process was com- 
plete, the Poyer showed me a little deposit of gold, 
in grains, at the bottom of the calabash, equal to 
about a fourth of an ounce in weight. He then 
told me that all the streams, flowing down the 
mountains toward the north, carried gold in their 
sands, and that the latter were frequently washed 
by his people, to obtain the means of purchasing 
such articles of civilized manufacture as they might 
need from the Spaniards of Olancho, and the trad- 
ers who visited the coast.''' 

On the eighth day from our encampment on the 
Tirolas, after a laborious march among heavily- 
wooded hills, following, for most of the distance, 
the bed of the Guallambre, now swollen to a con- 
siderable stream, we reached the Poyer village. I 
say village, for such it was, in fact, although com- 
posed of but a single house ! This was a substan- 
tial structure, forty paces in length, and ten broad, 
supported on stout posts, and heavily thatched with 
palm-leaves. The front and ends were open, but 

* The whole district of country lying on the north flank of the 
mountains which bound the valley of the Rio "Wanks, in the same 
direction, enjoys a wide celebrity for its rich deposits of gold. There 
is hardly a stream of which the sands do not yield a liberal propor- 
tion of that precious metal. Tet, strange to say, the washing is 
confined almost exclusively to the Indians, who seek to obtain no 
more than is just sufficient to supply their limited wants. Among 
the reduced, or, as they are called, christianized Indians, in the 
valley of Olancho, the women only wash the gold for a few hours on 
Sunday morning. With the supply thus obtained, they proceed to 
the towns, attend mass, and make their petty purchases, devoting 
the rest of the week to the fullest enjoyment of the dolcefar niente. 



294 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 

along the back extended a series of little apart- 
ments, separated from each other by partitions of 
the outer shells of the cabbage-palm, which, when 
split and pressed flat, make good substitutes for 
boards. These were the dormitories, or private 
apartments of the mated or married occupants, and 
of the girls. The places for the boys were on ele- 
vated platforms, beneath the roof. A row of stones, 
set firmly in the ground, defined the outline of the 
building. Within them the earth was elevated a 
foot or more, to preserve it dry and unafiected by 
the rains. The position was admirably chosen, on 
a kind of step or shelf of a considerable hill, which 
rose behind, clothed with dense verdure, while in 
front it subsided rapidly to the stream, here tum- 
bling noisily among the rocks, and yonder circling, 
bubble-sprinlded, in dark pools, beneath the trees. 
The ground around was beaten smooth and hard, 
and numbers of tamed curassows stalked to and fro, 
gravely elevating and depressing their crests ; while 
within the building, and on its roof, numerous 
parrots and macaws waddled after each other, or 
exercised their voices in loud and discordant cries. 
There were also a few pigs and ducks, all appearing 
to be as much at home beneath the roof, as were 
the naked Indian babies, with whom they mingled 
on terms of perfect equality. 

My boy had gone ahead, and had returned to 
meet us in company with two old men, who were 
the lawgivers of the establishment, and who rever- 
entially touched my knee with their foreheads, by 



THE POYER VILLAGE, 297 

way of salutation. They said but a single word, 
which I suppose was one of welcome, and then led 
the way silently to the house. At one end a space 
had been recently fenced off, containing two new 
crickeries, within which my various articles were 
deposited, and which were at once indicated to me 
as my special apartment. 

All the proceedings had been conducted so rapid- 
ly, that I was fairly installed in my novel quarters 
before I was aware of it. Our arrival had evidently 
been anticipated, for almost immediately the women 
brought us hot rolls of a species of bread made of 
ground cassava, baked in the ashes, with the addi- 
tion of some stewed flesh of the ivaree, so tender 
and savory that it would have commended itself to 
a far more fastidious appetite than mine. I made 
a prodigious meal, to the palpable satisfaction of 
my faithful Poyer, who kept every calabash heaped 
up with food. 

As I have said, the Indians of Central America 
differ widely from their fiercer brethren of our coun- 
try, not less in their modes of life than in all their 
social and civil relations. This Poyer community 
afforded an example of a purely patriarchal organi- 
zation, in which the authority of paternity and of 
age was recognized in the fullest degree. Every 
evening the old men, each taking a lighted brand, 
gathered within a small circle of stones, at one 
corner of the house, and there deliberated upon the 
affairs of the community, and settled its proceedings 
for the following day. In these conferences neither 

13* 



298 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

the women nor young men were permitted to take 
part. All the labor of the community was per- 
formed in common, and all shared equally in the 
results. In one or two of the recesses which I have 
described, were some ancient and helpless crones, 
who were treated with all the care and tenderness 
of children. The whole establishment, according to 
the best of my count, consisted of about one hun- 
dred and forty persons, young and old, of whom 
thirty-five were full-grown men. 

In figure the Poyers or Payas are identical 
with the Towkas and Woolwas, except more mus- 
cular — the consequence, probably, of their cooler 
climate and severer labor. The women were less 
shy, perhaps from their more social mode of living. 
In common with those of the coast, they go naked 
to the waist, whence depends a skirt of striped 
cotton cloth, reaching to the knees. Their hair is 
invariably parted in front, and held in place by a 
cotton band, bound tightly around the forehead. 
They were always occupied. Some, squatting on 
the ground, spun the native cotton, of which all 
the Indians raise small quantities, while others 
wove it into cloth. Both processes were rude but 
ingenious. The spindle consists of a small baU of 
heavy wood, through which passes a thin shaft, the 
whole resembling an overgrown top, the lower end 
resting in a calabash, to prevent it from toppling 
over. Some of the cotton is attached to this spin- 
dle, which is twuied between the thumb and fore- 
finger. While it is in motion the thread is care- 



POYER PRACTICES. 299 

fully drawn out from a pile of cotton in the lap of 
the spinner. When it stops the thread is wound on 
the spindle, and the same process repeated. The 
process of weaving was certainly a simple one, but 
after several unsatisfactory attempts to describe it, 
I am obliged to confess my inability to do so, in an 
intelligible manner. 

But a principal occupation of the women was the 
grinding of maize for tortillas, and of preparing the 
cassava. For these purposes there were a number 
of flat stones elevated on blocks, which were called 
by the Mexican name of metlatl. These were some- 
what concave on the upper surface, in which fitted 
a stone roller, worked by hand. With this the 
maize was speedily ground to a fine consistence ; 
the paste was then made into small cakes, which 
were baked rapidly on broad earthen platters, sup- 
ported over brisk fires. The cakes require to be 
eaten when crisp and hot, in order to be relished ; 
for when cold they become heavy and tasteless. 
Upon these stones they also crushed the stalks of 
the indigenous sugar-cane to extract the juice, 
which, mixed with powdered wild-cacao, is allowed 
to ferment, constituting an agreeable and exhili- 
rating beverage, called ulung. 

Every morning all the girls went down to the 
stream to bathe, which they did without any over- 
strained affectation of modesty ; but the mothers 
and old women always sought a spot secluded from 
the general gaze. It was only when thus engaged 
that the girls were at all playful. They dashed the 



300 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 

water in each, others' faces, and sought to drag each 
other under the surface, in the deep pools, where 
they swam about as mermaids are supposed to do, 
and as if the water was their native element. At 
all other times they were as distant and demure as 
the daintiest damsels in all New England. 

The Poyers are certainly a provident people. 
Although there were no signs of plantations in the 
vicinity of their establishments, yet, at various 
points in the neighborhood, where there occurred 
patches of rich interval land, were small fields of 
sugar-cane, plantains, squashes, maize, yucas, and 
cassava, all protected by fences, and attended with 
the utmost care. From every beam of the house 
depended bunches of plantains and bananas, huge 
yams, and dried flesh of various kinds, but chiefly 
that of the loaree, while closely packed, on plat- 
forms under the roof, were a few bales of sarsapa- 
rilla, which I found they were accustomed to carry 
down to the coast for purposes of barter. 

The Poyers or Payas, as I have intimated, are 
eminently agriculturists, and although they some- 
times follow the chase, it is not as a principal 
means of support. Nor is it followed from any fan- 
tastic notion of excitement or adventure, but in a 
direct and downright manner, which is the very 
reverse of what is calM " sport." I had an exam- 
ple of this in their mode of fishing, which quite 
astonished all my previous notions on that subject, 
and which evinced to me furthermore, that fishes, 
although cold-blooded, are not exempt from having 



NEW MODE OF FISHING. 801 

their heads turned^ provided they are approached in 
a proper manner. 

My Poyer boy, who was unwearying in his devices 
to entertain and interest me, one day conceived a 
brilliant idea, which he hastened to communicate to 
the old men, who held a sober monexicOy or council 
upon it, and resolved that there should be made a 
grand demonstration upon the fish, for the double 
purpose of amusing the stranger, and of replenish- 
ing the supplies. The resolution, taken at night, 
was carried into execution in the mornino;. While 
a portion of the men proceeded down the stream to 
construct a temporary wier of boughs, others col- 
lected a large quantity of a species of vine called 
bequipe, which is common in the woods, has a rank 
growth, is full of juice, and emits a pungent odor. 
These vines were cut in sections, crushed between 
stones, and placed in large earthen pots, left to 
steep, over a slow fire. 

I watched all the operations with curious interest. 
About the middle of the afternoon they were com- 
pleted ; the pots containing the decoctions were 
duly shouldered, and we all started up the stream. 
At the distance of perhaps a quarter of a mile, we 
met a number of men wading down the channel, 
and beating the water with long poles, by way of 
concentrating the fish in the direction of the wiers. 
Here the pots were simultaneously emptied in the 
stream, which the contents tinged of a brownish 
hue. Up to this moment, the various preparations 
had greatly puzzled me, but now I discovered that 



302 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

the purpose of the decoction was to poison, or rather 
to intoxicate the fish, which it did effectively ; for, 
as we proceeded down the stream, numbers rose 
struggling to the surface, vainly endeavoring to stem 
the current, which swept them toward the wiers. 

At every step they became more numerous, until 
the whole stream was thronged with them. Some 
were quite stupefied, and drifted along helplessly, 
while others made spasmodic efforts to resist the 
potent influence of the hequipe. But, sooner or 
later, they too drifted down, with a faint wagging 
of their tails, which seemed to express that they 
fairly " gave it up." 

The wier had been built at the foot of a consid- 
erable pool, which was literally covered with the 
stupefied fishes. There were many varieties of 
them, and the Indians stationed at that point were 
already engaged in picking out the largest and 
best, tossing the others over the wier, to recover 
their senses at their leisure, in the clear water be- 
low. As soon as the fish were thrown ashore, they 
were taken charge of by the women, who cleaned 
them on the spot, and with wonderful dexterity. 
They were afterward taken to the house, rubbed 
with salt, and smoke-dried over fires, after the man- 
ner which I have already described, as practiced by 
the Sambos at Pearl Cay Lagoon. 

It would naturally be supposed that a decoction 
so powerful as to affect the water of a large stream, 
would also damage the fish, and unfit them for 
food. But such is not the case. The effect seems 



GROWING FANCIES. 303 

to be precisely that of temporary intoxication, and 
the fish, if left in the water, would soon recover 
from its influence. 

Time passed pleasantly among the hospitable 
Poyers, and I was treated with such ceremonious 
deference and respect, that I began to think that a 
far worse fortune might befall me, than that of be- 
coming a member of this peaceful and prosperous 
community, on the banks of the Guallambre. In* 
fact, I finally detected myself speculating upon the 
possibility of promoting one of the dark Naiads, 
whom I every morning watched sporting in the 
river, to the occupancy of the vacant crickery in 
my apartment. And then the fact that there were 
two crickeries — was not that intended as a delicate 
suggestion on the part of the Poyers, whose ideas 
of hospitality might be less circumscribed than my 
own ? The thought that they might imagine me 
dull of apprehension, and slow to improve upon a 
hint, grew upon me with every new and nearer con- 
templation of the Naiads, and I began seriously to 
think of submitting a formal proposition on the 
subject, to the monexico. But men's fates often 
hinge upon trifling circumstances, and had I not 
detected a deepening shadow of anxiety on the face 
of Antonio, I might have become a patriarch in 
Poyerdom ! "Who knows ? 

Early after our arrival at the Poyer village, I was 
surprised to observe Antonio in close consultation 
with the old men, in the nightly monexico. They 
seemed to be deeply interested in his communica- 



304 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

tions, and I imagined that they became daily more 
thoughtful. But now, whatever purpose Antonio 
might have had in view, it appeared to have been 
accomplished. 

So, one evening, I called him aside, and an- 
nounced that I was ready to depart. He grasped 
my hand, pressed it to his heart, and said, in a tone 
of emotion — " The voice of the tiger is loud in the 
mountain, and the sons of the Holy Men are wait- 
ing by the lake of the Itzaes V 

I comprehended the latent meaning of these 
poetical words, for I had already seen enough of 
Antonio to discover that his absence from Yucatan 
was in some way connected with a concerted move- 
ment of the aborigines, and that now some crisis 
was approaching which drew him irresistibly to- 
ward his native land. Kesolved not to be instru- 
mental in delaying him for an hour unnecessarily, 
and half repenting that I had detained him so 
long — for his attachment and gratitude were too 
real to permit him to abandon me in the wilder- 
ness — I at once communicated my intention of 
leaving to the old men. They took it under serious 
deliberation, which resulted in their dispatching 
some men before daybreak, on the following morn- 
ing, to prepare a canoe for our descent of the 
Patuca. The canoes, I found, were not kept on the 
Guallambre, for two reasons : first, that its course is 
circuitous, and second, and principally, because it 
runs through the settlements of the Spaniards of 
Olancho, with whom the Indians avoid all relations 



DEPARTURE FOR THE COAST. 305 

which are not absolutely necessary. Their boats 
were therefore kept half a day's journey distant, be- 
yond a chain of high hills, on a large tributary of 
the Patuca, called Amacwass. 

I verily believe I would have been a welcome 
guest among my Poyer friends, so long as I might 
have chosen to remain ; yet they did not urge me to 
stay, but hastened to help me off, as if my intima- 
tions were to be regarded as commands. 

During the day a large quantity of provisions 
were dispatched to the boat, and at night the 
monexico selected two men, and my old companion 
the Poyer boy, to accompany us to the coast. We 
took our departure early in the morning, while it was 
yet dark, without creating the slightest disturbance 
in the establishment. Only the old men, who had 
come out to meet us two weeks before, now went 
ahead with large brands of fire, to light the way ; 
but, when the day broke, they again touched their 
foreheads to my knee, and returned, leaving us to 
prosecute our journey alone. 

We reached the Amacwass in the afternoon, and 
found a boat, twice as large as the canoe in which 
we had navigated the lagoons, all prepared for in- 
stant departure. A space near the middle was cov- 
ered with a thatch of palm branches, to protect me 
from the sun, and altogether it promised a degree 
of comfort and convenience to which I had been a 
stranger, in my previous voyagings. 

We embarked at once, and dropped rapidly down 
with the current, the Indians only using their pad- 



306 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

dies to direct the boat, and keep it clear of the 
rocks which obstructed the channel. The water 
was wonderfully clear, every where revealing the 
bottom with the greatest distinctness. The banks 
were covered with a heavy forest, in which the eye 
was often arrested by the stately forms of the ma- 
hogany-tree, with its massive foliage, rising high 
above the general level ; or by the still taller and 
more graceful plumes of the palmetto-royal. Vege- 
tation seemed to have a more vigorous, but less re- 
dundant life, than on the Mosquito Shore ; that is 
to say, it assumed more compact and more decided 
forms, occasioned, probably, by the comparative ab- 
sence of jungle, not less than by peculiarities of soil. 

There was something exhilarating in our rapid 
course ; and the voice of the waters, here murmur- 
ing over a pebbly bottom, and yonder breaking 
hoarsely over the obstructing rocks, reminded me of 
my distant ISTew England home, and recalled the 
happy hours which I had spent in the sole compan- 
ionship of its merry mountain streams. It was, 
after all, by the standard of my youthful experi- 
ences, that I measured my present enjoyments ; 
and it was rare indeed, even in my most cheerful 
moods, that the comparison was favorable to the 
latter. The senses blunted by years, and the mem- 
ory crowded with events, fails to appreciate so keenly 
or record so deeply, the experiences of middle life, 
and pure happiness, after all, dwells chiefly in the 
remembrance of the distant past. 

As soon as the shadows of evening began to settle 



"the gateway of hell/' 307 

over the narrow valley of tlie Amacwass, we halted, 
and made our camp, maintaining throughout the 
night a great fire, not less for its cheerful influences 
than for protection against the fierce black tigers, or 
pumas, which abound on this flank of the moun- 
tains. We heard their screams, now near, now 
distant, to which the monkeys responded with 
alarmed and anxious cries, so like those of human 
beings in distress, as more than once to startle me 
from my slumbers. These caricatures on humanity 
seemed to be more numerous here than further 
down the coast, and we often saw large troops of 
them in the overhanging trees, where they gravely 
contemplated us as we drifted by. Occasionally 
one, more adventurous than the rest, would slide 
down a dependent limb or vine, scold at us vehe- 
mently for a moment, and then scramble back again 
hurriedly, as if alarmed at his own audacity. 

On the second day the current of the Amacwass 
became more gentle, and just before night we shot 
out of its waters into the large and comparatively 
majestic Patuca. Our course down this stream was 
not so rapid. In places the current was so slight 
that it became necessary to use our paddles ; while 
elsewhere the greatest caution was requisite to guide 
our boat safely over the numerous cTiifiones or rapids 
by which it was interrupted. But these, though 
difficult, and in some instances dangerous, sunk into 
insignificance when compared with what is called 
El Portal del Infierno, or the " Gateway of Hell." 
My Poyer boy had several times alluded to it, as 



308 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

infinitely more to be dreaded than any of the passes 
which we had yet encountered, and as one which 
would be likely to excite my alarm. 

We reached it on the day after we had entered 
the Patuca. As we advanced, the hills began to 
approach each other, and high rocks shut in the 
river upon both sides. Huge detached masses also 
rose in the middle of the stream, around which the 
water whirled and eddied in deep, dark gulfs, suck- 
ing down the frayed and shattered trunks of trees, 
from which the branches had long before been torn 
by rude contact with the rocks, only to reject them 
again from their depths, far below. The velocity 
of our boat increased, and I became apprehensive in 
view of the rushing current and rocky shores ; nor 
was the feeling diminished, when the men com- 
menced to lash the various articles contained in the 
boat by thongs to its sides, since that precaution 
implied a possibility of our being overset. Antonio 
urged me to strip, which I did, in preparation for the 
worst contingency. Meanwhile the stream narrowed 
more and more, and the rocks towered higher and 
higher above our heads. The water no longer dashed 
and chafed against the shores, but, dark and glassy, 
shot through the narrow gorge with a low hissing 
sound, more fearful than its previous turbulence. I 
involuntarily held my breath, grasping firmly the 
sides of the boat, and watching anxiously the dark 
forms of the Indians, as, silently, and with impas- 
sible features, they guided the frail slab upon which 
our lives depended. On, on we swept, between 



PORTAL DEL INFIERNO. 



309 



cliffs so lofty and beetling as to shut out the sun, 
and involve us in twilight obscurity. I looked up, 
and, at a dizzy height, 
could only trace a nar- 
row strip of sky, like the 
cleft in the roof of some 
deep cavern. A shudder 
ran through every limb, 
and I could well under- 
stand why this terrible 
pass had been named 
the " Mouth of Hell \" 
He must have been a 
bold man who ventured 
first within its horrid 
jaws ! 

I drew a long breath 
of relief when the chasm 
began to widen, and the 
current to diminish in 
violence. But it was 
probably then that we 
were in the greatest dan- 
ger, for the bed of the 
stream was full of angu- 
lar rocks which had been 

swept out from the canon, to be heaped up here in 
wild disorder. A misdirected stroke of a single 
paddle would have thrown our frail boat upon 
them, and dashed it into a thousand pieces. 

Before night, however, we had entirely passed 




G-ATBWAT OF HELL, 



310 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

the rapids, and were drifting quietly over the 
smooth, deep reaches of the river — the bubbles on 
its surface, and the flecks of white foam clinging to 
its banks, alone indicating the commotion which 
raged above. 

There are many legends connected with the 
" Portal del Infierno." Within it the Indians im- 
agine there dwells a powerful spirit, who is some- 
times seen darting through its gloomiest recess, in 
the form of a large bird. That night, each of the 
Poyers poured a portion of his allowance of cliicha 
in the stream, as a thank-offering to the spirit of 
the river. This, and the offerings made to fire, 
were the only religious rites which I witnessed 
while in their country ; but it is not thence to be 
inferred that they are without religious forms, for 
it is precisely these that they are most careful to 
conceal from the observation of the stranger. 

As we proceeded down the river, and entered the 
alluvions of the coast, both the stream and its 
banks underwent an entire change. The latter be- 
came comparatively low, and frequently, for long 
distances, were wholly covered with feathery palms, 
unrelieved by any other varieties of trees. Snags 
and stranded logs obstructed the channel, and sand- 
bars appeared here and there, upon which the hid- 
eous alligators stretched themselves in the sun, in 
conscious security. Occasionally, we observed 
swells or ridges of savannah land, like those on the 
Mosquito Shore, supporting pines and acacias. 
But the general character of the country was that 



RIO PATUCA. 311 

of a broad alluvion, in places so low as to be over- 
flowed during floods — rich in soil, and adapted to 
the cultivation of all the tropical staples. 

On the seventh day from the Poyer village, we 
reached a point where the river divides, forming a 
delta, the principal channel leading off to the sea 
direct, and the other conducting to a large lagoon, 
called Btus by the Spaniards, where the Caribs of 
the coast have their establishments. We took the 
latter, and the Indians plied their paddles with in- 
creased energy, as if anxious to bring our tedious 
voyage to a close. 




.^-L 3c. 
LTHOUGH we had previously 
moored our boat with, the ap- 
proach of darkness^ yet this night 
the Indians kept on their course. 
The river was now wide and still, and the banks 
low and tropical. With the fading light of day, 
the sea-breeze set in, fresh and pungent, from the 
ocean. Fire-flies sparkled like stars along the 
shore, and only the night-hawk, swooping down 
after its prey, startled the ear of night with its 
rushing pinions. 

The night advanced, and the steady dip of the 
paddles soothed me into a slumber, from which I 
was only roused by the noise of drums and the 
sound of revelry. I leaped up suddenly, with some 
vague recollections of the orgies at Sandy Bay, 



ARRIVAL AT BRUS LAGOON. 313 

which, however, were soon dispelled, and I found 
that we had already passed Brus Lagoon, and were 
now close to its northern shore, where the Carib 
town is situated. There were many lights and 
fires, and shouts and laughter rang out from the 
various groups which were gathered around them. 
I perceived at once that some kind of a festival 
was going on, and had some hesitation in ventur- 
ing on shore. But I was reassured by the conduct 
of the Indians, who paddled the boat up to the 
beach, with the utmost confidence. Before it 
touched the sand, however, we were hailed by some 
one on the shore, in a language which I did not un- 
derstand. A moment after, the hail was repeated 
in another dialect, to which my Poyer boy re- 
plied, with some kind of explanation. '•' Advance, 
friend !" was the prompt response of the chal- 
lenger, who stepped into the water, and lent a 
hand to drag up the canoe. 

I scrambled forward, and leaped ashore, when I 
was immediately addressed by the same voice which 
had hailed us, with, '^ Yery welcome to Brus \" 
My first impression was, that I had fallen in with 
Europeans, but I soon saw that my new friend was 
a pure Indian. He was dressed in white panta- 
loons and jacket, and wore a sash around his waist, 
and, altogether, looked like a good fellow. He at 
once invited me to his house, explaining, as we 
went along, that the village was in the midst of a 
festival, held annually, on the occasion of the re- 
turn of the mahogany-cutters from the various 



S14 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

worksj both on this coast and in the vicinity of Be- 
lize. The next day, he said, they exjiected a large 
reenforcement of their numberSj and that then the 
festivities would be at then- height. 

Meantime, we had reached the house of our new 
friend, whose impromptu hospitality I made no 
hesitation in accepting. It was empty ; for all 
hands were occupied with the festival. Our host 
stirred up the embers of a fire, which were smoul- 
dering beneath a little roof in front of the hut, 
and hastened away to call his family. 

While I awaited his return, I smiled to think 
what a free and easy way I had contracted since 
leaving Jamaica, of making myself at home under 
all circumstances, and with all sorts of people. No 
letters of introduction, given with hesitation, and 
received Avith doubt. And then, the happy excite- 
ment of an even chance whether one's welcome may 
come in the form of a bullet or a breakfast ! These 
things will do to tell my friend Sly, I soliloquized, 
and fell into a revery, which was only broken by the 
return of my host, accompanied by one of his wives 
— a very pretty and well-dressed Carib woman, her 
hair neatly braided on the top of her head, and stuck 
full of flowers. Although it was now past mid- 
night, she insisted on preparing something for us to 
eat, and then returned to participate in the dances 
and rejoicings which were going on in the centre of 
the village. 

I would have accompanied my host there also, 
had it not been for an incident which, for that night 



AN ABRUPT PARTING. 315 

at least, banished my idle curiosity. While occu- 
pied in arranging my personal baggage in our new 
quarters, I had observed my Poyer companion 
standing apart, and regarding me with an earnest 
and thoughtful expression. I was several times on 
the point of speaking to him, and as often had my 
attention diverted by other circumstances. Finally, 
however, I turned to seek him, but he was gone. I 
inquired of Antonio what had become of him, but 
he could give me no information ; and, a little con- 
cerned himself, he started for the scene of the rev- 
elry, under the impression that he might have been 
attracted thither. He returned with a hasty step, 
and reported that neither the Poyer or his compan- 
ions were to be found. We hurried to the shore, 
where we had left the boat, but that also was gone. 
The reader may, perhaps, smile when I say that I 
strained my eyes to penetrate the darkness, if only 
to catch one glimpse of my Poyer boy ; and that I 
wept when I turned back to the village. And 
when, on the following day, as I unrolled my scanty 
wardrobe, a section of bamboo-cane, heavy with 
gold-dust, rolled upon the floor, I felt not only 
that I had lost a friend, but that beneath the 
swarthy breast of that untutored Indian boy there 
beat a heart capable of the most delicate generos- 
ity. Be sure, my faithful friend, far away in your 
mountain home, that your present shall never be 
dishonored ! Washed from the virginal sands, and 
wrought into the symbol of our holy faith, it rests 
above a heart as constant as thine own ; and, in- 



316 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

scribed with the single word " Fidelity/' it shall 
descend to my children, as an evidence that Faith 
and FriendshijD are heavenly flowers, perennial in 
every clime ! 

The Caribs (who pronounce their own name Ga- 
Tibees), those Dyacks of the Antilles, had always 
been associated in my mind with every thing that 
was savage in character and habits, and I was as- 
tonished to find that they had really considerable 
pretensions to civilization. It should be observed, 
however, that they are here an intruded people, and 
that, first and last, they have had a large associa- 
tion with the whites. They now occupy the coast 
from the neighborhood of the port of Truxillo to 
Carataska Lagoon, whence they have gradually ex- 
pelled the Sambos or Mosquitos. Their original 
seat was San Vincent, one of what are called the 
Leeward Islands, whence they were deported in a 
body, by the English, in 1798, and landed ujDon the 
then unoccupied island of Koatan, in the Bay of 
Honduras. Their position there was an unsatisfac- 
tory one, and they eagerly accepted the invitation 
of the Spanish authorities to remove to the main- 
land. 

Positions were assigned them in the vicinity of 
Truxillo, whence they have spread rapidly to the 
eastward. All along the coast, generally near the 
mouths of the various rivers with which it is 
fringed, they have their establishments or towns. 
These are never large, but always neat, and well 
supplied with provisions, especially vegetables, 



CARIB CHARACTER. 317 

which are cultivated with great care, and of the 
highest perfection. They grow rice, cassava, sugar- 
cane, a little cotton, plantains, squashes, oranges, 
mangoes, and every variety of indigenous fruits, 
besides an abundance of hogs, ducks, turkeys, and 
fowls, of all of which they export considerable 
quantities to Truxillo, and even to Belize, a dis- 
tance of several hundred miles. 

The physical differences which existed among 
them at San Vincent are still marked. Most are 
pure Indians, not large, but muscular, with a ruddy 
skin, and long, straight hair. These were called 
the Ked or Yellow Caribs. Another portion are 
very dark, with curly hair, and betraying unmistak- 
ably a large infusion of negro blood, and are called 
the Black Caribs. They are taller than the Ked 
Caribs, and well-proportioned. They contrast with 
the latter, also, in respect of character, being more 
vehement and mercurial. The pure Caribs are con- 
stant, industrious, quiet, and orderly. They all 
profess the Catholic religion, although observing 
very few of its rites, except during their visits to 
the Spanish towns, where all their children are scru- 
pulously taken to be baptized. 

I was agreeably astonished when I awoke on the 
morning after our arrival at Brus, to find a cup of 
coffee, well served in a china cup, awaiting my at- 
tentions. And when I got up, I was still further 
surprised to observe a table spread with a snow- 
white cloth, in the principal apartment of the 
house, where my host welcomed me, with a genuine 



318 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

" good morning/' I expressed my surprise at his 
acquaintance with the English, which seemed to 
flatter him, and he ran through the same salutation 
in Spanish, Creole-French, Carih, and Mosquito. 
Whereupon I told him he was a " perambulating 
polyglot," which he did n't understand, although 
he affected to laugh at the remark. 

I had now an opportunity to make my observa- 
tions on the village of Brus and its people. The 
town is situated on a narrow, sandy tongue of land, 
lying between the sea and the lagoon. This strip 
of land supports a magnificent forest of cocoa-palms, 
relieved only by a few trees of gigantic size and 
dense foliage, which, I suppose, must be akin to 
the banyan-tree of India, inasmuch as they send 
down numerous stems or trunks, which take root 
in the ground, and support the widely-spreading 
branches. The establishment of my host, includ- 
ing his house and the huts of his various wives, 
were all built beneath a single tree, which had 
thirty-five distinct trunks, besides the central or pa- 
rent stem. A belt of miscellaneous trees is also 
left seaward, to break the force of the north wind, 
which would otherwise be sure to destroy the palms. 
But the underbrush had all been carefully removed, 
so that both the sea and the lagoon were visible 
from all parts of the village. The design of their 
removal was the excellent one of affording a free 
circulation of air ; a piece of sanitary, wisdom 
which was supported by the additional precaution 
of building the huts open only to the sea-breeze. 



A PARAGRAPH ON PALMS. 319 

and closed against the miasmatic winds which blow 
occasionally from the land side. 

Nothing could be more beautiful than the palm- 
grove, with its graceful natural columns and ever- 
green arches, beneath which rose the picturesque 
huts of the village. These were all well-built, 
walled, floored, and partitioned, with cabbage-palm 
boards, and roofed with the branches of the same 
tree. Episodically, I may repeat what has probably 
often been observed before, that the palm, in its 
varieties, is a marvel of economic usefulness to 
dwellers under the tropics. Not only does it present 
him with forms of enchanting beauty, but it affords 
him food, drink, and shelter. One variety yields 
him excellent substitutes for bread and yeast ; an- 
other sugar and wine ; a third oil and vinegar ; a 
fourth milk and wax ; a fifth resin and fruit ; a 
sixth medicines and utensils ; a seventh weapons, 
cordage, hats, and clothing ; and an eighth habita- 
tions and furniture ! 

The plantations of the village, except a few clus- 
ters of banana-trees and sugar-canes, on the edge 
of the lagoon, were situated on the islands of the 
latter, or on its southern shore. Those on the 
islands were most luxuriant, for the principal reason 
that they are fully protected from the wild beasts, 
which occasionally commit extensive depredations 
on the maize, rice, and cassava fields. One of the 
islands nearest the village, on which my hostesses 
had their plantations, I visited frequently during my 
stay. It was a delicious spot, covered with a most 



320 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

luxuriant growth of fruits and vegetables. I could 
well understand why it had been selected by the 
English for their settlement^ when they sought to 
establish themselves on the coast, during the great 
war with Spain. A partially-obliterated trench and 
breast-work, a few iron guns half-buried in the soil, 
at the most elevated portion of the island, and one 
or two large iron cauldrons, probably designed to be 
used in sugar-works, were now the only traces of 
their ancient establishments. 

The lagoon abounds in fish and water-fowl, and 
there are some savannahs, at a considerable distance 
up the Patuca, and on other streams flowing into 
the lagoon, which are thronged with deer. But it 
would seem that these are only occasionally hunted 
by the Caribs, and then chiefly for their skins, of 
which large numbers are exported. 

As I have said, we arrived in Brus during the 
annual carnival, which follows on the return of 
those members of the community who have been 
absent in the mahogany-works. It is in these 
works that the able-bodied Caribs find their princi- 
pal employment. They hire for from ten to twelve 
dollars per month, and rations, receiving one half of 
their pay in goods, and the other half in money. 
As a consequence, they have among them a great 
variety of articles of European manufacture, selected 
with a most fantastic taste. A Carib dandy de- 
lights in a closely-fitting pantaloons, supported 
by a scarlet sash, a jaunty hat, encircled by a broad 
band of gold lace, a profuse neck-cloth, and a sword, 



A CARIB DANDY. 321 

or purple umbrella. It is in some such garb that 
lie returns from the mahogany-works, to delight the 
eyes and affect the sensibilities of the Carib girls ; 
nor does he fail to stuff his pockets with gay beads, 
and ear-rings and bracelets of hoop-like dimensions, 
richly gilt and glowing with colored glass, where- 
with to follow up any favorable impression which 
may be produced by his own resplendent person. 
He then affects to have forgotten his Carib tongue, 
and finds himself constantly running into more fa- 
miliar English, after the immemorial practice of 
great and finished travelers. He scorns the native 
cMcha for the first day, but overcomes his prejudice, 
and gets glorious upon it the next. In fact, he 
enacts an unconscious satire upon the follies of a 
class, whose vanity would never enable them to dis- 
cover the remotest possible parallelism between 
themselves and the Caribs of Honduras ! 

During the day several large boats arrived at 
Brus from Limas and Eoman, both of which are 
mahogany stations. They all carried the Honduras 
flag at the topmast, and bore down on the shore 
with their utmost speed, only striking their sails 
when on the edge of the breakers, when the occupants 
would all leap overboard, and thus float their boats 
to the shore. Here, under the shade of the trees, 
all the inhabitants of the village were gathered. 
They shouted and beat drums, and fired muskets, 
by way of welcome to their friends, who responded 
with the whole power of their lungs. Here, too, 
expectant wives, affectionate sisters, and anxious 

14* 



322 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

mothers^ spread out tables, loaded with, food, fruits, 
bottles of rum, and jars of cliiclia, wherewith to re- 
gale husband, brother, or son, on the instant of his 
arrival. It was amusing to witness the rivalry of 
the various wives of the same anxiously-expected 
husband, in their efforts to outvie each other in the. 
arrangement of their respective tables, and the vari- 
ety of eatables and drinkables which they su23ported. 
They were all particularly ambitious in their display 
of glass-ware, and some of them had a profusion of 
gay, and, in some instances, costly decanters and 
tumblers. One yellow dame, with her shoulders 
loaded with beads and but half-concealed by a 
silken scarf of brightest crimson, was complacent 
and happy in the exclusive possession of a plated 
wine-server, which supported three delicately-cut 
bottles of as many different colors, and fflled with 
an equal variety of liquors. 

Every body drank with every body on the occasion 
of every body's arrival, a process which, it may be 
suspected, might, by frequent repetition, come to 
develop a large liberality of feeling. At noon, it 
exhibited itself in a i)rofuse and energetic shaking 
of hands, and toward night in embraces more pro- 
longed and unctious than pleasant or endurable to 
one receiving his initiation in the practice. So I 
was fain to retire early from the shore, although 
enjoying highly the excitement, in which I could not 
fail to have that kind of sympathy which every 
manifestation of genuine feeling is sure to inspire. 
Even Antonio, whose impassible brow had latterly 



SINGULAR PRACTICES. 323 

become anxious and thoughtful, partook of the gen- 
eral exhilaration, and wore a smiling face. 

I was treated with great consideration by the 
entire population, who all seemed alike consequen- 
tial and happy, when an opportunity was afforded 
to them of shaking me by the hand, and inquiring, 
" How do you do ?" 

As I have intimated, the Caribs, like the Mos- 
quitos, practice polygamy ; but the wives have each 
a distinct establishment, and require a fair and 
equal participation in all of the favors of their hus- 
band. If he make one a present, he is obliged to 
honor all the others in like manner ; and they are 
all equally ready to make common cause against 
him, in case of infidelity, or too wide an exhibition 
of gallantry. The division of duties and responsi- 
bilities is rather extraordinary. When a Carib 
takes a wife, he is obliged to build her a house and 
clear her a plantation. But, this done, she must 
thenceforth take care of herself and her offspring ; 
and if she desire the assistance of her husband in 
planting, she is obliged to pay him, at the rate of 
two dollars per week, for his services. And al- 
though the husband generally accompanies his 
wives in their trading excursions to Truxillo and 
elsewhere, he carries no loads, and takes no part in 
the barter. As a consequence, nearly all the labor 
of the villages is performed by the women ; the 
men thinking it rather beneath them, and far from 
manly, to engage in other occupation than mahog- 
any-cutting and the building of boats, in which art 



324 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

they are very expert, using the axe, saw, and adze 
with great skill. Altogether, the Caribs are kind, 
industrious, provident, honest, and faithful, and 
must ultimately constitute one of the most import- 
ant aids to the development of the country. They 
are brave, and some companies, which have been in 
the ser^dce of the government, have distinguished 
themselves in the field, not less for their subordina- 
tion than for their valor and powers of endurance. 
They are usually temperate, and it is rare to see 
one of them drunk, except during the continuance 
of some festival, of which they have several in the 
course of the year. 

I remained but a few days at Brus, and availed 
myself of the departure of a large creer, or Carib 
boat, bound for Eoatan, to take passage for that 
island. I could not prevail upon my host to accej)t 
any thing in return for his hospitality, except " El 
Moro,"' for whom one of his children had conceived 
a strong liking, which the bird was far from recip- 
rocating. Mischievous Moro ! The last I saw of 
him was while waddhng stealthily across the floor, 
to get a bite at the toes of his admirer ! 

Our course from Brus lay, first, to the island of 
Grunaja, distinguished historically as the one whence 
Columbus first descried the mainland of America. 
Our sole purpose there was to carry a demijohn of 
brandy to a solitary Scotchman, living upon one 
of the cays which surround it, to whom it had 
been sent by some friend in Belize. It had been 
intrusted to the Carib owner of the boat, who went 



APPROACH TO GUANAJA. 325 

thus out of his way to fulfill his commissioiij with- 
out recompense or the hope of reward. One would 
suppose that a demijohn of brandy was a danger- 
ous article to intrust to the exclusive custody of 
Indians ; but those who know the Caribs best have 
most faith in their integrity. 

The Bay of Honduras is remarkable for its gen- 
eral placidity, and the extreme purity of its waters. 
It has a large number of coral cays and reefs on its 
western border, which almost encircle the penin- 
sula of Yucatan, as with a belt. The fine islands 
of Roatan and Guanaja are belted in like manner, 
but there are several openings in the rocky barriers 
which surround them, through which vessels may 
enter the protected waters within. 




APPROACH TO GUANAJA. 



The wind was fresh and fair, the sky serene, and 
the sea was bright and sparkling in the sunlight. 
We swept on swiftly and gayly, the pine-clad 
mountains of Guanaja rising slowly and smilingly 
above the horizon. By-and-by the palm-trees on 
the surrounding cays became visible, their plumes 
appearing to spring from the clear waters, and to 
rise and fall with the motion of our boat. As we 



326 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

approaclied nearer to them^ we could make out tlie 
cays themselves, supporting masses of emerald ver- 
dure, within a silvery ring of sand. Between them 
and the island, with its wealth of forest, the sea 
was of the loveliest blue, and placid as a " painted 
ocean."" But, before we reached their fairy-like 
shores, the wind died away, and our sail drooped 
from the mast. We were partly under the lee of 
the land, and the surface of the sea soon became 

•■ charmed in a calm so still 

That not a ripple ruffled its smooth face." 

And as we drifted on, our boat yielding to the gen- 
tle swells, I amused myself in looking over the 
side, and contemplating the forms of marine life 
which the transparent water revealed to our gaze. 
The bottom was distinctly visible, studded with 
the wonderful products of the coral polypus, here 
spreading out like fans, there taking the forms of 
flattened globes radiating with spines, and yonder 
shooting up in branching, antler-like stems. Dark 
patches of jelly-like sponge, the white shells of 
myriads of conchs, and occasionally a large fish, 
whose pulsating gills alone gave sign of life — all 
these contributed to lend variety and interest to 
those glimpses of the bottom of the sea. It was to 
me a new revelation of Nature, and as I gazed, and 
gazed, the musical song of the " dainty Ariel " 
rang its bell-like cadences in my ears ; 

" Full fathoms five thy father lies ; 
Of his bones are corals made ; 



MOONLIGHT MUSINGS. 32T 

Those are pearls that were his eyes ; 

Nothing of him that doth fade, 
But doth suffer a sea-change 

Into something rich and strange !" 

Our men stretched themselves in the bottom of 
the boat, waiting, as they said, for the evening 
breeze. But the evening breeze came not, and they 
were finally obliged to paddle the boat to the near- 
est cay — a coral gem indeed, with its clustering 
palms, drooping gracefully over the sea, as if. Nar- 
cissus-like, contemplating their own beauty in its 
mirror-like surface. 

The moon was in her first quarter, and as she 
rose above the placid sea, revealing the island in its 
isolation and beauty, jeweled round with cays, I 
seated myself apart, on the sand of the shore, and 
drank in the beauty of the scene. Gradually my 
thoughts recurred to the past, and I could hardly 
realize that but little more than ^yg months had 
elapsed since I had held an unwitting conference 
with the demon, in my little studio in White-street. 
And yet what an age of excitement and adventure 
had been crowded in that brief space ! I felt that 
I had entered upon a new world of ideas and im- 
pressions, and wondered to think that I had lived 
so long immured in the dull, unsympathizing heart 
of the crowded city. It was with a pang of regret 
that I now found myself drifting upon civilization 
again. A few days would bring me to Belize, 
where I knew Antonio would leave me, to return to 
the fastnesses of his people. Where then should I go ? 



828 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

These reflections saddened me, and tTie unwilling 
conviction was forced upon my mind that I must 
soon be roused from my long, delicious dream, per- 
haps never again to court its enchantments with 
success. I gazed upon the moonlit waters, and lis- 
tened to the gentle chime of the waves upon the 
sand, and almost regretted that I had been admit- 
ted within the grand arcanum of Nature, to adore 
her unvailed beauties, since they were now to be 
shut out from me forever, by the restraints, the un- 
meaning forms, the follies and vices of artificial 
life ! A heavy weight of melancholy settled on my 
heart, and I bowed my head on my knees, and — 
shall I own it ? — wept ! 

It was then that Antonio approached me, silent- 
ly as when he stole to my side on the fearful night 
of our shipwreck, and quietly laid his hand on my 
shoulder. I knew who it was, but I said nothing, 
for I hesitated to betray my emotion. 

He respected my silence, and waited until my 
momentary weakness had passed away, when I 
raised my head, and met his full and earnest gaze. 
His face again glowed with that mysterious intelli- 
gence which I had remarked on several previous oc- 
casions ; but now his lips were unsealed, and he 
said : — 

" This is a good place, my brother, to tell you 
the secret of my heart ; for on that dark island 
slumber the bones of our fathers. It was there 
that my powerful ancestor, Baalam Votan, led the 
white-robed holy men, when they fled from the re- 



BAALAM VOTAN. 329 

gions of the rising sun. It was there that our peo- 
ple raised a temple to the Imperial Tiger, whose 
descendant I am — for am I not Baalam,''-" and is not 
this the Heart of the People ?" 

This exclamation was made with energy, and, for 
a moment, he was silent, and gazed earnestly upon 
his cherished talisman. 

When he resumed, it was in a less exalted strain. 
He told me of the ancient greatness of his people, 
when the race of Baalam Votan reigned over the 
Peninsula of Yucatan, and sent the missionaries of 
their religion to redeem the savage nations which 
surrounded them, even to the country of the Huas- 
tecas, on the river of Panuco. It was then, he 
said, that the Lord of Life smiled on the earth ; 
then the ears of maize were many times larger than 
now, the trees were loaded with unfailing supplies 
of fruit, and bloomed with perennial flowers ; the 
cotton grew of many colors ; and, although men 
died, their spirits walked the earth, and held famil- 
iar converse with the children of the Itzaes. 

Never have I heard a voice more intense and fer^ 
vid than that of the Indian boy, as he described the 
traditionary golden age of his people. I listened 
with breathless interest, and thought it was thus 
that the prophets of old must have spoken, when 

* Baalam, in the language of Yucatan, signifies Tiger, and Votan 
is understood to denote Heart. The Maya tradition is, that Baalam 
Votan, the Tiger-Heart, led the fathers of the Mayas to Yucatan, 
from a distant country. He is conspicuously figured in the ruined 
temples around the Lake of Itza, as well as at Chichen and Pa- 
lenque. 



330 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

the people deemed tliem inspired of heaven. But 
when he came to recount the wrongs of his nation, 
and the destruction of the kingdom of his fathers, 
I could scarcely believe that the hoarse .voice, and 
words but half-articulated from excess of passion, 
proceeded from the same lips. It was a fearful 
sight to witness the convulsive energy of that In- 
dian boy, whose knotted muscles, and the veins 
swelling almost to bursting on his forehead, half-in- 
duced me to fear that he had been stricken with 
madness. 

But soon he became calm again, and told me 
how the slumbering spirit of his people had become 
roused, and how wide-spread and terrible was the 
revenge which they were meditating upon their op- 
pressors. A few years before, his father had gath- 
ered the descendants of the ancient Caziques amid 
the ruins at Chichen-Itza, and there they had 
sworn, by the Heart of Baalam Yotan, to restore the 
rule of the Holy Men, and expel the Spaniards from 
the Peninsula. It was then, that the sacred relic 
which he wore on his breast had been dug up from 
the hiding-place where it had lain for centuries, to 
lend the sanctity and power of the traditionary 
Votan to his chosen successor. But the movement 
had been premature ; and although the excited, but 
poorly-armed Indians performed prodigies of valor, 
and carried their victories to the very walls of Me- 
rida, yet there they received a sudden, and, as it 
seemed, a final check, in the death of Chichen-Pat, 
their cherished leader. He fell at the head of his 



THE GREAT CONSPIRACY. 331 

followers, who rescued only the talisman of Yotan, 
called the " Heart of the People/' and then fled in 
dismay to their fastnesses in the wilderness. But 
the spirit which, had been evoked was not subdued. 
Another convocation was held, and the only son of 
their late leader was invested with the symbol of 
authority. A scheme of insurrection was devised, 
which was intended to include, not only the Indians 
of Yucatan and of Central America, but even those 
of Mexico and Peru, in one grand and terrible up- 
rising against the Spanish dominion. 

To this end messengers were sent in every direc- 
tion ; and the proud cavalier at Bogota or Mexico, 
spurring his horse, with arrogant mien, past the 
strange Indian, who shrank aside at his approach, or 
stood with head uncovered in his presence, little 
thought what torrents of hate were dammed up in 
that swarthy breast, or what wide-laid schemes of 
vengeance were revolving beneath that impassi- 
ble brow ! The emissaries toiled through wilder- 
nesses and deep marshes, over high mountains and 
dangerous rivers, enduring hunger and fatigue, and 
the extremes of heat and cold, to fulfill their re- 
sj)ective missions. Even the daughters of the Holy 
Men, like the seeress of the river Bocay, ventured 
afar from the homes of their people, and among dis- 
tant and alien tribes, became the propagandists of 
the meditated Kevenge ! 

The night had worn on, and the crescent moon 
rested on the verge of the horizon. I had heard the 



332 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

great secret of the Indian boy ; his bitter recital of 
past wrongs and failures, and his hopes of future 
triumph. I now knew that the angel of blood was 
indeed abroad, and that, in his own figurative lan- 
guage, "The voice of the Tiger was loud in the 
mountain !'' 




FAREWELL TO THE MOSQUITO SHORe! 

I was silent and thoughtful when he had fin- 
ished ; but when, after a long pause, he asked, 
" Will my brother go with me to the lake of the 
Itzaes ?" I grasped his hand and swore, by a name 
holier than that of Yotan, to justify a friendship so 
unwavering by a faith as boundless as his own. 
And when I left the outposts of civilization, and 
plunged into the untracked wilderness, with no 
other friend or guide, never did a suspicion or a 
doubt darken for an instant my confidence, or im- 
pair my faith in the loyal heart of Antonio Chul — 
once the mild-eyed Indian boy, but now the dreaded 
chieftain and victorious leader of the unrelenting 
Itzaes of Yucatan ! 



THE GREAT CONSPIRACY. 333 

Time only can determine what will be the final re- 
sult of the contest which is now waging upon the soil 
of that beautiful, but already half-desolated penin- 
sula. Almost every arrival brings us the news of in- 
creased boldness, and new successes on the part of 
the Indians ; and, it now seems, as if the great 
drama of the conquest were to be closed by the de- 
struction of the race of the conquerors ! Terribly 
the frown darkens on the front of Nemesis ! 

" The voice of the Tiger is loud in the moun- 
tain !" 



APPENDIX 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

The general physical cliaracteristics, and tlie climate and 
productions of the Mosquito Shore, have probably been suffi- 
ciently indicated in the foregoing rapid narrative. l!^ever- 
theless, to supply any deficiencies which may exist in these 
respects, as well as to illustrate the history of this coast, to 
which recent political events have given some degree of in- 
terest, I have here brought together a variety of facts derived 
from original sources, or such as are not easily accessible to 
the general reader. 

The designation " Mosquito Shore" can only properly be 
understood in a geographical sense, as applying to that por- 
tion of the eastern coast of Central America lying between 
Cape Gracias a Dios and Bluefields Lagoon, or between the 
twelfth and fifteenth degrees of north latitude, a distance ol 
about two hundred miles. The attempts which have been 
made to apply this name to a greater extent of shore, have 
had their origin in strictly political considerations. 

This coast was discovered by Columbus, in his fourth voy- 
age, in 1502. He sailed along its entire length, stopping at 



336 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

various points, to investigate the country, and ascertain tlie 
character of its inhabitants. He gave it the name Cariay, 
and it was accurately characterized by one of his compan- 
ions, Porras, as " una tier r a muy haja^'' a veiy low land. 
Columbus himself, in his letter to the Spanish sovereigns, 
describes the inhabitants as fishers, and " as great sorcerers, 
very terrible." His son, Fernando Columbus, is more expli- 
cit. He says, they were " almost negroes in color, bestial, 
going naked ; in all respects very rude, eating human flesh, 
and devouring their fish raw, as they happened to catch 
them." The language of the chroniclers warrant us in be- 
lieving that these descriptions applied only to the Indians of 
the sea-coast, and that those of the interior, whose language 
then was different, were a distinct people. 

The great incentive to Spanish enterprise in America, and 
which led to the rapid conquest and settlement of the conti- 
nent, was the acquisition of the precious metals. But little 
of these was to be found on the Mosquito Shore, and, as a 
consequence, the tide of Spanish adventure swept by, heed- 
less of the miserable savages vmo sought a precarious sub- 
sistence among its lagoons and forests. It is true, a grant of 
the entire coast, from Cape Gracias to the Gulf of Darien, 
was made to Diego de Mcuessa, for purposes of colonization, 
within ten years after its discovery, but the expedition which 
he fitted out to carry it into effect, was wrecked at the mouth 
of the Cape, or Wanks river, which, in consequence bore, for 
many years, the name of Rio de los Perdidos. 

From that time forward, the attention of Spain was too 
much absorbed with the other parts of her immense empire 
in America, to enable her to devote much care to this com- 
paratively unattractive shore. Her missionaries, inspired 
with religious zeal, nevertheless penetrated among its people, 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 33T 

and feeble attempts were made to found establishments at 
Cape Gracias, and probably at other points on the coast. 
But the resources of the country were too few to sustain the 
latter, and the Indians themselves too debased and savage to 
comprehend the instructions of the former. 

' The coast, therefore, remained in its primitive condition, 
until the advent of the buccaneers in the sea of the Antilles, 
which was about the middle of the seventeenth century. Its 
intricate bays and unknown rivers, furnished admirable 
places of refuge and concealment, for the small and swift ves- 
sels in which they roved the seas. They made permanent 
stations at Cape Gracias and Bluefields, from which they 
darted out like hawks on the galleons that sailed from Nom- 
bre de Dios and Carthagena, laden with the riches of Peru. 
Indeed Bluefields, the present seat of Mosquito royalty, de- 
rives its name from Bleevelt, a noted Dutch pirate, who had 
his rendezvous in the bay of the same name. 

The establishment at Cape Gracias, however, seems to 
have been not only the principal one on this coast, but in 
the whole Caribbean Sea. It is mentioned in nearly every 
chapter of the narratives, which the pirates have left us, of 
their wild and bloody adventures. Here they met to divide 
their spoil, and to decide upon new expeditions. The rela- 
tions which they maintained with the natives are well de- 
scribed by old Jo. Esquemeling, a Dutch pirate, who wrote 
about 1670 : — 

"We directed our course toward Glracias a Dios, for thither 
resort many pirates who have friendly correspondence with the In- 
dians there. The custom is, that when any pirates arrive, every one 
has the liberty to buy himself an Indian woman, at the price of a 
knife, an old axe, wood-bill or hatchet. By this contract the woman 
is obliged to stay with the pirate all the time he remains there. She 
serves him, meanwhile, with victuals of all sorts that the countrj'- af- 

15 



338 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

fords. The pirate has also hberty to go and hunt and fish where he 
pleases. Through this frequent converse with the pirates, the In- 
dians sometimes go to sea with them for whole years, so that many 
of them can speak Enghsh." {Bvx,caneers of America^ London^ 1^04, 
p. 165.) 

He also adds that they were extremely indolent, " wander- 
ing up and down, without knowing or caring so much as to 
keep their bodies from the rain, except by a few palm- 
leaves," with "no other clothes than an apron tied around 
their middle," and armed with spears "pointed with the 
teeth of crocodiles," and living chiefly on bananas, wild fruits 
and fish. 

We have a later account of them by De Lussan, another 
member of the fraternity of freebooters : 

" The Cape has long been inhabited by mulasters [mulattos] and 
negroes, both men and women, who have greatly multiphed since a 
Spanish ship, bound from Guinea, freighted with their fathers, was 
lost here. Those who escaped from the wreck were courteously re- 
ceived by the Mousticks [Spanish Moscos, Enghsh Mosquitos'] who live 
hereabout. These Indians assigned their guests a place to grub up, 
and intermixed with them. 

" The ancient Mousticks live ten or a dozen leagues to the wind- 
ward, at a place called Sanibey [Sandy Bay]. They are very sloth- 
ful, and neither plant or sow but very httle ; their wives performing 
all the labor. As for their clothing, it is neither larger or more 
sumptuous than that of the mulasters of the Cape. There are but few 
among them who have a fixed abode, most of them being vagabonds, 
and wandering along the river side, with no other shelter than the 
latarien-kaf [palm-leaf], which they manage so that when the wind 
drives the rain on one side, they turn their leaf against it, behind 
which they lie. "When they are inchned to sleep, they dig a hole in 
the sand, in which they put themselves." (De LussarCs Narrative, 
London, 1704, p. 1*7 Y.) 

The negroes wrecked from the Spanish slave-ship were 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 339 

augmented in number by the cimarones, or runaway slaves 
of tbe Spanish settlements in the interior ; and, interminghng 
with the Indians, originated the mongrel race which now 
predominates on the Mosquito Shore. Still later, when 
the English planters from Jamaica attempted to establish 
themselves on the coast, they brought their slaves with 
them, who also contributed to increase the negro element. 
What are called Mosquito Indians, therefore, are a mixed 
race, combining the blood of negroes, Indians, pirates, and 
Jamaica traders. 

Many of the pirates were Englishmen, and all had rela- 
tions more or less intimate with the early governors of 
Jamaica, who often shared their profits, in return for such 
indulgences as they were able to afford. Indeed, it is al- 
leged that they were often partners in the enterprises of the 
buccaneers. But when the protracted wars with Spain, 
which favored this state of things, were brought to a close, it 
became no longer prudent to connive at freebooting ; and, as 
a kind of intelHgence had sprung up with the Mosquito 
Shore, they conceived the idea of obtaining possession of it, 
on behalf of the British crown. Various plans to this end, 
drawn up by various individuals, were at this period pre 
sented to the royal government, and by them, it would seem, 
referred to the governors of Jamaica. 

But the governors of that island had already taken the in- 
itiative. As early as 16 87 one of the Mosquito chiefs had 
been taken to Jamaica, for the purpose of having him place 
his country under the protection of England. Sir Hans Sloane 
has left an account of how, having escaped from his keepers, 
" he pulled off the European clothes his friends had put on, 
and climbed to the top of a tree !" 

It seems, nevertheless, that he received " a cocked hat, and 



840 THE MOSQUITO SHOBE. 

a ridiculous piece of writing," which, according to Jeffreys, 
was a commission as king, " given by his Grace, the Duke of 
Albemarle, under the seal of the island !" 

It was not, however, until 1*740, that an attempt was 
made to obtain a cession of the coast, from the extraordinary 
monarch thus created by the Duke of Albemarle. In that 
year Governor Trelawney wrote to the Duke of IS'ewcastle, 
suggesting the expediency of rousing the Mosquito Indians 
against the Spaniards, with whom the English were at war, 
and purposing an absolute occupation of their country. He 
represented that there were about one hundred Englishmen 
there, " mostly such as could live nowhere else^'' who might 
be brought together, reenforced, and, by the help of the 
Mosquitos, finally induce the other Indians to revolt, " and 
thus spread the insurrection from one part to another, till it 
should become general over the Indies, and drive the Span- 
iards entirely out." 

In pursuance of this scheme. Governor Trelawney commis- 
sioned one Robert Hodgson, to proceed to the Mosquito 
Shore, fully provided with every thing necessary to enable 
him to tamper with the Indians. The manner in which he 
executed his instructions is naively told by Hodgson himself, 
in a letter addressed to the Governor. The following ex- 
tracts are from the original letter, now in the possession oi 
Colonel Peter Force, of Washington. 

Sandy Bay, April 8th, lt40. 
"May it please Tour Excellency, — 

" I arrived at St. Andrews on the 4th of March, and sailed for 
Sandy Bay on the 8th, where I arrived on the 11th, but was pre- 
vented by a Norther from going ashore till the 13th. 

" King Edward being informed of my arrival, sent me word that 
he would see me nest day, which he did, attended by several of his 
captains. I read to him Your Excellency's letter, and my own com- 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 341 

mission, and when I had explained them by an interpreter, I told 
them my errand, and recommended to them to seek all opportunities 
of cultivating friendship and union with the neighboring Indian na- 
tions, and especially such as were under subjection to the Spaniards, 
and of helping them to recover their freedom. They approved every 
thing I said, and appointed the 16th to meet the Governor, John Brit- 
on, and his captains at the same place, to hear what I had further 
to say. 

" On the 16th they all came, except Admiral Dilly and Colonel 
Morgan, who were, hke General Hobby and his captains, at too great 
a distance to be sent for, but their presence not being material, I pro- 
ceeded to explain to them that, as they had long acknowledged 
themselves subjects of Great Britain, the Governor of Jamaica had 
sent me to take possession of their country in His Majesty's name — ■ 
then asked if they had any thing to object. They answered, they had 
nothing to say against it, but were very glad I had come for that pur- 
pose ; so I immediately set up the standard, and reducing what I had 
said into articles, I asked them both jointly and separately, if they 
approved, and would abide by them. They unanimously declared 
they would. I had them then read over again, in solemn manner, 
under the colors, and, at the end of every article fired a gun, and 
concluded by cutting up a turf) and promising to defend then- country, 
and procure for them ah. assistance from England in my power. 

" The formality with which all this was done seems to have had a 
good effect upon them. 

"The articles I enclose, and hope Tour Excellency will excuse so 
much ceremony ; for, as I had no certain information whether the 
country was ever taken possession of before, or ever claimed other- 
wise than by sending them down commissions, I thought the more 
voluntary and clear the cession was the better. * * * The king 
is very young, I believe not twenty, and is not much observed ; but 
were he to be in England or Jamaica a while. His thought he would 
make a hopeful monarch enough. 

"On the 18th the king, with his captains, came of their own ac- 
cord to consult about a proper plan to attack [the Spaniards], but 
hearing that Captain Jumper was-expected from the other side of the 
Cape, and neither the Governor, Admiral Dilly, nor Colonel Morgan 



-342 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

being present, I thought it best to defer it tUl they were summoned. 
The king brought his mother, and the captains their wives. I enter- 
tained them as usual, but there always comes such a train that I 
should have had three or four, instead of one puncheon of rum.'" * * * 

Hodgson tlien goes on to describe tlie appearance of one 
Andrew Stewart, a pirate, to whoni the Indians had made a 
promise of assistance, from which he endeavored to dissuade 
them, in order to accompany him ; but the Indians finally 
agreed to attack the river Cocehjo to oblige Stewart, and 
San Juan de Veragua to oblige Hodgson. He continues : — 

* * * "They intoxicate themselves with a liquor made of 
honey, pine-apple, and cassava, and, if they avoid quarrels, which 
often happen, they are sure to have fine promiscuous doings among 
the girls. The old women, I am told, have the liberty of chewing the 
cassava, before it is put in, that they may have a chance ia the gen- 
eral rape as well as the young ones. 

"I fell into one of their drunken-bouts by accident yesterday, 
when I found Admiral Dilly and Colonel Morgan retailing my advice 
to them to httle effect, for most of them were too drunk to mind it, 
and so hideously painted that I quickly left them to avoid being 
daubed aU over, which is the compliment they usually pay visitors 
on such occasions. 

* * * '« Their resentment of adultery has lost its edge too much 
among them, which I have no doubt they are obliged to us for, as 
also for the breach of promise in their bargains. * * * They will 
loll in their hammocks until they are almost starved, then start up, 
and go a turtling in a pet ; and if they have not immediate success, 
and their happens to be many boats together, they form a design 
upon some Spanish or Indian town. * * * * 

"The country is fine, and produces good cotton, better than Ja- 
maica. * * * Those Indians, on this side, do not appear so 
averse to government as I supposed, and those on the other are 
tractable enough. * * * i don't take their number to be so 
many as the author of the project makes them out. 

(Signed) "Robert Hodgson." 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 343 

In a subsequent letter, from Chiriqui Lagoon, dated June 
21, 1740, Hodgson gives a further account of Ms expedi- 
tion, and asks for some blank commissions for Mosquito 
admirals and generals, and also implores the Governor to 
send him out some men as a guard ; for, lie says, " my life 
is in more danger from these Indians than from the Span- 
iards." 

Previously to this mission of Hodgson, viz., on the 28th of 
October, the Spanish Embassador in London had made com- 
plaints that the incursions of the Zambos and Indians of the 
Mosquito Shore, on the adjacent Spanish settlements, were 
" at the instigation and under the protection of the English 
of Jamaica, who have a commerce with them, and give them 
in exchange for the captive Indians whom they purchase for 
slaves, firearms, powder, shot, and other goods, contrary to 
the natural rights of these people." 

The " cession" of the Mosquito Shore, thus procured by 
Hodgson, was followed up by occupation. Several Jamaica 
planters established themselves there, and Hodgson shortly 
afterward received the appointment of " Superintendent of 
the Mosquito Shore." 

In 1744 an order was issued in Council, dispatching a cer- 
tain number of troops from Jamaica to the Mosquito Shore, 
and in 1748 another order for sending a supply of ordnance 
to the "new settlements" established there. In fact, every- 
thing indicated the purpose of a permanent occupation of 
the country. The Spaniards remonstrated, and in 1750-51 
threatened a forcible expulsion of the English, whereupon 
Trelawney instructed Hodgson to represent to them, that 
" the object of keeping a superintendent among the Indians 
was to restrain them in their hostilities against the Span- 
iards !" For a time the Spaniards were deceived, and even 



344 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

went so far as to confer on Hodgson the title of Colonel, for 
tlie services wMcli lie professed to render to tliem. They, 
however, finally discovered his duplicity, and made arrange- 
ments to carry out their threat. 

This not only alarmed the settlers, hut also Governor 
Knowles, who had succeeded Trelawney in Jamaica. He 
opened a correspondence with the Captain-General of Guate- 
mala for the cessation of hostilities, till he could hear from 
England, whither he wrote that the whole Mosquito affair was 
" a^oS," and that if Hodgson were not checked or recalled, "he 
would involve the nation in difficulties," and that the " In- 
dians were so perplexed that they did not know what part to 
take." A little later the Indians themselves took up arms 
against the English, being discontented with the treatment 
which they had received. 

These things did not escape the notice of Spain, and had 
their influence in bringing about the troubles which were 
ended by the treaty of Paris, in 1763, by which Great Britain 
agreed to demolish all the fortifications which she had erect- 
ed, not only on the Mosquito Shore, but in all " other places 
in the territory of Spain, in that part of the world." This 
treaty, nevertheless, did not have the effect of entirely term- 
inating English intrigue and aggression on the Mosquito 
Shore and elsewhere, and its provisions were consequently 
revived, and made more explicit and stringent by the subse- 
quent treaty of 1783. This treaty provided that all the 
" English settlements on the Spanish continent" should be 
abandoned ; but, on the pretext that " the Mosquito Shore 
was not part of the Spanish continent, but of the American 
continent," the English managed to evade its provisions, and 
to keep up their connection with that coast, as before. This 
piece of duplicity led to severe reclamations on the part or 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 845 

Spain, which, were only settled by the supplementary treaty 
of 1*786, which stipulated that 

"His Britannic Majesty's subjects, and other colonists who have en- 
joyed the protection of England, shall evacuate the country of the 
Mosquitos, as well as the continent in general, and the islands adja- 
cent without exception," etc. And that "If there should still remain 
any persons so daring as to presume, by entering into the interior 
country, to obstruct the evacuation agreed upon, His Britannic Majes- 
ty, so far from affording them any succor or protection, will disavow 
them in the most solemn manner," etc., etc. 

The English, nevertheless, under authority of another arti- 
cle of this treaty, were allowed to cut logwood, within a 
certain accurately-defined territory on the coast of Yucatan, 
now known as " Belize," or " British Honduras." But they 
were strictly forbidden to make permanent establishments, 
erect fortifications, or organize any form of government ; nor 
was the permission thus accorded to be construed as in any 
way derogating from the "sovereign territorial rights of the 
King of Spain." Yet from this simple permission to cut 
wood, thus hedged round with solemn treaty stipulations, 
Great Britain, by a series of encroachments and aggressions 
has come to arrogate absolute sovereignty, not only over Be- 
lize and a wide expanse of adjacent territory, but also over 
the large islands of Roatan, Guanaja, etc., in the Bay of Hon- 
duras, which have been organized as colonies of the British 
crown ! 

From 1Y86 forward. Great Britain ceased to hold any 
open relations with the Mosquito Indians, until the decline 
of the power of Spain, and the loss of her American posses- 
sions. In the interval, the governors of the provinces of Cen- 
tral America had made various establishments on the Mos- 

15* 



346 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

qiiito Sliore, at Cape Gracias, and at Bluefields, and had 
erected a fort for the protection of the harbor of San Juan, 
at the mouth of the river of the same name. 

But when the country passed into the hands of the com- 
paratively feeble states of Central America, whom it was sup- 
posed could offer no effectual resistance to aggression, the 
English revived their schemes of aggrandisement on the Mos- 
quito Shore. And while these states were occupied with the 
questions incident to their new political organization, agents 
were dispatched to the coast, from Jamaica and Belize, to 
tamper again with the Indians, and to induce them to reject 
the authority of the republics which had succeeded to the 
rights of Spain, In this they seem to have been, to a certain 
degree, successful. JN'either rum, nor commissions as kings, 
admirals, generals, and governors, were wanting, to operate 
upon the weakness of the savages. " A regalia," says Mac- 
gregor, " consisting of a silver-gilt crown, a sword, and scep- 
tre of moderate value," were sent out to lend dignity and 
grandeur to the restored dynasty of Mosquito ! A savage 
chief, or head-man, who suited the purposes of the Jamaican 
Warwicks, was pitched upon, taken to Belize, and formally 
" crowned." But he turned out badly. In the language of 
Macgregor, in his Report to the British Pariiament, "he 
combined the bad qualities of the European and Creole, with 
the vicious propensities of the Sambo, and the capriciousness 
of the Indian." He was killed in a drunken brawl, in 1824, 
and was succeeded by his half-brother, Robert. But it was 
soon found that Robert was in the Spanish interest, and he 
was accordingly set aside, by the British agents, who took 
into favor a Sambo, named " George Frederick." But he, 
too, proved to be an indifferent tool, and either died, or was 
dropped, for another Sambo, who was called by the high- 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 347 

sounding name of ^'-Robert Charles Frederick^'' and who 
promised to answer every purpose. 

His " coronation" was effected at Belize, on the 23d of 
April, 1825, upon which solemn occasion a number of so- 
called chiefs were got together, under the seductive promise 
of a " big drunk." The ceremonies which took place have 
been described by a British subject, who was an eye-witness 
of the proceedings. His picture needs no heightening to 
make it irresistibly ludicrous ! 

"On the previous evening cards of invitation were sent to the dif- 
ferent merchants, requesting their attendance at the court-house 
early in the morning. At this place the king, dressed in a British 
major's uniform, made his appearance; and his chiefs similarly 
clothed, hut with sailors' trowsers, were ranged around the room. A 
more motley group can hardly be imagined. Here an epaulette 
decorated a herculean shoulder, tempting its dignified owner to view 
his less favored neighbor with triumphant glances. There a want- 
ing button displayed a greasy oUve skin under the uniform of a cap- 
tain of infantry. At one side a cautious noble might be seen, carefully 
braced up to the chin, like a modern dandy, defying the most pene- 
trating eye io-prove him shirtless; whUe the mathematical movements 
of a fourth, panting under such tight habUiments, expressed the fear 
and trembling with which he awaited some awful accident. 

" The order of procession being arranged, the cavalcade moved to- 
ward the church ; his Mosquito Majesty on horseback, supported on 
the right and left by the two senior British officers of the settlement, 
and his chiefs following on foot two by two. On its arrival his 
Majesty was placed in a chair, near the altar, and the English coro- 
nation service was read by the chaplain to the colony, who, on this 
occasion, performed the part of the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
When he arrived at this part, ' And all the people said, let the King 
live forever, long live the King, God save the King!' the vessels of 
the port, according to a previous signal, fired a salute, and the chiefs 
rising, cried out, 'Long live King Eobert!' 

" His Majesty seemed chiefly occupied in admiring his finery, and. 



348 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

after his anointing, expressed his gratification by repeatedly thrust- 
ing his hands through his thick, bushy hair, and applying his finger, 
to his nose — in this expressive manner indicating his dehght at this 
part of the service. 

" Before, however, his chiefs could swear allegiance to their mon- 
arch, it was necessary that they should profess Christianity ; and, ac- 
cordingly, with shame be it recorded, they were baptized ' ia the 
name of the Father, Son, and Holy G-hostl' They displayed total ig- 
norance of the meaning of this ceremony; and when asked to give 
their names, took the titles of Lord Eodney, Lord Nelson, or some 
other celebrated officer, and seemed grievously disappointed when 
told that they could only be baptized by simple Christian names. 

" After this solemn mockery was concluded, the whole assembly 
adjourned to a large school-room to eat the coronation dinner, when 
these, poor creatures all got intoxicated with rum 1 A suitable con- 
clusion to a farce, as blasphemous and wicked as ever disgraced a 
Christian country." {Dunnes Central America, pp. 26, 27. — 1828.) 

After liaving been thus invested witli tlie Mosquito purple, 
" King Robert Charles Frederick" was conducted back to the 
Mosquito Shore, and turned loose to await the further devel- 
opment of British designs. After the unctions ceremonies at 
Belize, he seems to have taken the proceeding in earnest, 
and to have deluded himself with the belief that he was really 
a king ! In this character, and moved thereto by the sug- 
gestions of divers scheming traders, and the powerful incen- 
tives of gay cottons and rum, he proceeded, of his sovereign 
will and pleasure, to make grants to the aforesaid traders, of 
large portions of his alleged dominions. These grants were 
not only so extensive as to cover the entire shore, but con- 
veyed the absolute sovereignty over them to the various 
grantees — Rennick, Shepherd, Haly, and others. 

When these proceedings came to the ears of the Governor 
of Jamaica, and the Superintendent of Belize, who had cre- 
ated " His Mosquito Majesty" for their own use and purposes, 



HISTORICAL SKETCH, 349 

they created great alarm. Says Macgregor, " it appears that 
these grants were made without the knowledge of the British 
agent, who had usually been residing on the coast, to keep 
up the connection with England.^'' He adds that " upon their 
coming to the knowledge of the British government, they 
were very properly disallowed." 

Not only were they disallowed, but a vessel of war was 
sent to the coast to catch " Robert Charles Frederick," and 
take him to Belize, where he would be unable to do more 
mischief. This was done, but "His Majesty" could not 
endure the restraints of civilization — ^he pined away, and 
died. But before this lamentable catastrophe took place, he 
was induced to affix " his mark" to a document styled " a 
Will," in which it was provided that the affairs of his king- 
dom should be administered by Colonel McDonald, the Su- 
perintendent of Behze, as Regent, during the minority of Ms 
heir ; that McDonald should be guardian of his children ; 
and, with reference to the spiritual wants of his beloved sub- 
jects, " the United Church of England and Ireland should be 
the established religion of the Mosquito nation forever !" 
Sainted Robert ! 

Upon the death of " Robert Charles Frederick," his son, 
" George WiUiam Clarence," the present incumbent of the 
Mosquito throne, was duly proclaimed " King" by the Re- 
gent McDonald, and his colleagues. His first act, under their 
direction, was the revocation of all the grants which his fa- 
ther had made to the traders, on the ground that the royal 
Robert Charles was drunk when he made them, and that 
they had been given without a consideration. An agent was 
then appointed to take charge of this tender scion of royal- 
ty, at Bluefields, where the latter still remains, in complete 
subjection to his masters, who direct all his acts, or rather 



350 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

compel his endorsement of tlieir own. From 1841 up to 1848 
tlie proceedings of the English agents, in developing their 
policy in respect to the Mosquito Shore, and in preparing the 
way for its final aggregation to the British crown, rise be- 
yond the scope of sober history or serious recital, and could 
only be properly illustrated by the appropriate pens of Chari- 
vari, or of Punch. 

All these proceedings were firmly and earnestly protested 
against by the Central American States, who, however, re- 
ceived no satisfactory replies to their remonstrances. They 
were, furthermore, too much occupied with their own interior 
dissensions to undertake any efiectual resistance to the aggres- 
sions of the Enghsh agents. In this emergency they addressed 
an appeal to the civilized nations of Europe, and a particular 
and fervent one to the United States, for its interference 
in behalf of their clear territorial rights and sovereignty. 

Before time was afi'orded for action on these appeals, the 
termination of the war with Mexico, and the purchase of 
California by the United States, precipitated the course of 
Enghsh intrigue and encroachment on the Mosquito Shore. 
The British government was not slow to perceive that the 
acquisition of California would give to the long-cherished 
project of establishing a ship-canal between the Atlantic and 
Pacific Oceans, a new, practical, and immediate importance, 
and rightly foresaw that it would soon come to attract a 
large share of pubhc attention in the United States. Orders 
were at once issued for the seizure of the Port of San Juan 
de Nicaragua, the only possible eastern terminus for a canal 
by way of the river San Juan, and the JSTicaraguan lakes. 
This port had always been in the undisputed occupation both 
of Spain and Nicaragua ; not a single Mosquito Indian had 
ever dwelt there, or within fifty miles of it, in any direction, 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 351 

yet, under pretext that it constituted " part of the proper do- 
minions of his Mosquito Majesty, of whom Great Britain was 
the lawful protector," two British vessels-of-war entered the 
harbor in the month of January, 1848, tore down the Nicara- 
guan flag, raised that of " Mosquito," turned out the JN'icara- 
guan ofiicers, and filled their places with Englishmen. This 
done, they sailed away ; but no sooner did the intelligence 
of the event reach the interior, than the Nicaraguan govern- 
ment sent down a small force, expelled the intruders, and 
resumed possession. The British forces, considerably aug- 
mented, thereupon returned. The Nicaraguans, unable to 
oppose them, retired up the river, and erected some rude 
fortifications on its banks. They were followed by an Eng- 
lish detachment, and finally routed, with great loss. Hostil- 
ities were further prosecuted, until the Mcaraguans, power- 
less against the forces of Great Britain, consented to an ar- 
mistice, which provided that they should not disturb San 
Juan, or attempt to reoccupy the port, pending the negotia- 
tions which, it was foreseen, would follow upon the seizure. 
All attempts to induce them to relinquish their claims of 
sovereignty over the port, were, however, unsuccessful. 

By this high-handed act, committed in time of profound 
peace. Lord Palmerston, who had directed it, fondly hoped 
to secure for Great Britain the control of the then-supposed 
only feasible means of communication between the seas. He 
had grasped, as he thought, the key of the Central American 
Isthmus. English ofiicers were at once installed in San 
Juan, and a " Consul General" appointed to reside there, 
with the most absolute dictatorial powers, supported by what 
was called a " police force," from Jamaica, and the almost 
constant presence of a British vessel of war in the harbor. 

This act was shortly followed by the attempted seizure of 



352 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

the Island of Tigre, and the G-ulf of Fonseca, tlie supposed 
western terminus of tlie proposed canal, on tlie Pacific. This 
attempt was thwarted by American diplomacy in that quarter. 
The results of American interference are too recent and 
well-known to need recapitulation. An American company 
obtained the privileges of a transit through Nicaragua, and 
it was not long before American steamers began to run to 
San Juan. A large number of American citizens established 
themselves at the port, where they soon succeeded in sufib- 
cating British influence. They took the direction of affairs 
in their own hands, adopted a constitution, and organized a 
regular and stable government, pending the final settlement 
of the various questions concerning Central America, then in 
course of negotiation between the United States and Great 
Britain. In this condition the place remained, well-ordered, 
and affording the fullest jDrotection to person and property, 
until the month of June of last year, when, under a misrepre- 
sentation of facts, and the grossest perversions of truth, in- 
spired by unscrupulous personal hostility, the United States 
government was induced to issue such orders in respect to it, 
to a naval officer of more zeal and ambition of notoriety 
than either wisdom or discretion, as resulted in its bombard- 
ment and total destruction. Since this act, which has met 
the unanimous reprehension of the country, the town has 
been partly rebuilt and re-occupied, and now maintains an 
extraordinary and most anomalous condition, which can not 
long endure without resulting in serious complications. The 
United States insists, and justly, that it pertains to Mcara- 
gua, and that all authority which may be exercised there, 
not derived from that State, is an usurpation ; while, on the 
other hand, without insisting on the sovereignty of Mosquito, 
Great Britain denies it to Nicaragua, and prohibits her from 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 353 

attempting to exercise jurisdiction over it. Meantime San 
Juan and its people are left helplessly in a political Limbo, 
suffering witnesses of their inability to serve two masters. 
The obvious, and probably the only peaceable solution of this 
complication, is the voluntary establishment of San Juan as 
a free port by Mcaragua, under the joint protection of Eng- 
land and the United States. 

Since 1849, nearly the whole interest of the " Mosquito 
question" has been centered in San Juan. It is true, Messrs. 
Webster and Crampton agreed upon a prqje% defining the 
limits of Mosquito jurisdiction, and establishing a de facto 
Sambo monarchy on the coast, recognized, if not guaranteed, 
both by the United States and Great Britain. But the projet 
found no favor in this country, and was, moreover, indig- 
nantly rejected by Nicaragua. How far subsequent nego- 
tiations have tended to bring affairs to a settlement, remains 
to be disclosed. 

It is nevertheless certain that, while Nicaragua has fretted, 
the United States blustered, and Great Britain silently and 
sullenly relaxed her gripe, as circumstances have rendered it 
necessary, the " Kingdom of Mosquito" has undergone no 
change, but has kept on the even tenor of its way — a happy 
illustration of the conservative and peaceful tendencies of 
well-established monarchical institutions! Under all the 
complications of the modern time, the royal Clarence, the 
hospitable Drummer, and the bibulous Slam, ignorant of the 
exalted place which they occupy in the instructions, and dis- 
patches, and notes of conference, wherewith the Slams and 
Drummers of other lands do gravely amuse themselves, still 
cherish the well-being of their beloved and fellow-subjects, 
who, in turn, hunt, and fish, and cultivate the " big drunk" 
as of yore ! E. 



B. 



VARIOUS NOTES ON THE TOPOGRAPHY, SOIL, CLIMATE, 
AND NATIVES OF THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

The subjoined extracts, from various published works and 
memoirs of acknowledged authenticity, and from original 
documents, exhibit the condition of the people of the Mos- 
quito Shore, their habits and modes of life, from the year 
1700 up to the present time. It will be seen that few if 
any changes have taken place for the better, in this long 
period of a hundred and fifty years. 

1710. 

From Dampier's ^'■Voyage around the World,'''' London, ITl*?, p. 7-11. 
" The Mosquito Indians are but a small nation or family, 
and not a hundred men of them in number, inhabiting on 
the main, on the north side, near Cape Gracias a Dios. * * 
They are coveted by the privateers as hunters. * * They 
have no form of government among them, but take the Gov- 
ernor of Jamaica to be one of the greatest princes in the 
world." 

1757. 

Extracts from " Some account of the Mosquito Territory, written in 
1157, while that country was in the possession of the British, hy Col. 
Rolert Hodgson, formerly His Majesty^s Gommander-in- Ohief Super- 
intendent, and Agent on the Mosquito Shore. 

This Colonel Hodgson was son of the Captain Hodg- 
son who was sent to the Mosquito Coast, in 1740, by 



NOTES AND EXTRACTS. 355 

Governor Trelawney. He states tliat tlie population of the 
shore, at the time of his writing (1757), exclusive of abor- 
igines was: "Whites 154, Mestizoes and Mulattoes lYO, In- 
dian and Negro slaves 800 — total 1124." He observes that 
the " whites are without laws," but, nevertheless, living with 
great regularity ; and that, if the number of white children 
is small, " it may be imputed to most of the women having 
lived with so much freedom formerly." He then proceeds to 
give a very clear and accurate account of the country, its 
products, and people, as follows :■ — 

" The face of the country is various. The sea-coast, from 
Cape Cameron to Bluefields, is low and level, but the land 
rises gradually up any of the large, fair rivers with which it 
abounds, and whose regular flowery banks form beautiful 
avenues, and about twenty miles up is high enough for any 
purpose. But the lowland is full of swamps. jN'ear the 
coast are several large lagoons, whose length, for the most 
part, is parallel thereto, and are so joined to each other by 
narrow necks of water, that half this distance may be gone 
inland, upon smooth water ; in the flood times this may be 
called a range of islands, lying close in with the main, but 
the land is not much overflowed. To the westward and 
southward of the above capes, the land is high, almost to the 
sea-side, the hills rising gently like the swell of the sea. The 
greater part of the higher land is covered with large woods ; 
but the lowland consists chiefly of large, level lawns, or savan- 
nahs, as they are called, with scarce a tree, and some of them 
very extensive. The whole country is remarkably well watered 
by many fine rivers, which have a long course ; by innumer- 
able smaller ones, and by creeks and lagoons ; but all the 
rivers have the inconvenience of shoal bars at their mouths. 
The soil of the high woody land is the best, and is every 



356 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

where excellent ; being either a deep black mould, or rich 
brick clay. What low woody ground is interspersed among 
the lawns is not so good ; but the inhabitants who hitherto 
have chosen it for their plantations, have found that it will 
produce what they want very well. The savannah lands are 
the worst; the soil is light sand mixed with some rich mould, 
but might be greatly improved and made very useftd. At 
present they are used for pasturage. The swamps or 
marshes are very rich soil ; and if the wood which grows on 
them were cut down, they would either dry up, or, with a 
little more pains, might be drained." — ^P. 21. 

" Indigo grows all about the country, of the same kind 
with that of the province of Guatemala, which is esteemed 
the best in the world. 

" Cotton grows every where, in the worst land ; the staple 
is remarkably good. There are three species of that kind 
which is manufactured, one of which is a light reddish 
brown, and looks like silk." — P. 23. 

" Sugar, of which the little that is planted grows remarka- 
bly well in this country, which is much better adapted for it 
than any of the islands, on account of the great convenience 
of streams of water for such works and for carriage ; the 
countiy not being subject to severe droughts, and free from 
hurricanes." — P. 29. 

" The climate is very sensibly cooler than that of Jamaica, 
and very healthy, on which account people from that island 
sometimes come hither. Indeed, the disorders in both are 
of the same nature ; but here they are not near so frequent , 
or so violent as in that island. During the north winds the 
season may, with propriety, be called winter. 

" The wind most common is the sea-breeze, or trade-wind. 
It blows fresh in June and July, but very moderate in April, 



NOTES AND EXTRACTS. 357 

May, August, and September, particularly in April, and from 
the middle of August to the latter part of September. But 
from that time to the end of October, a westerly wind pre- 
vails along the coast to the westward of Cape Gracias, and a 
southerly one along the coast to the south of it ; after which, 
to the end of February, at the full and change of the moon, 
strong north winds may be expected, veering round from east 
to west, and continuing about a week, yet is scarce ever so 
strong as to prevent vessels from beating to windward, and, 
if they choose it, getting in to Bonacca. * * * The land 
wind blows seven leagues off to sea, although sometimes 
very weak. * * * The month of March is very uncer- 
tain. The seasons are much the same as in other parts of 
the continent. In the rainy season, scarce a day passes 
without a heavy shower ; the first commonly begins in June, 
and lasts about six weeks, in which time the rivers rise con- 
siderably, and are very rapid. The second begins about the 
middle of October, and lasts about two months. When they 
are over, the vegetation is surprisingly quick, and there is 
the further advantage of frequent, intermediate, gentle 
showers. ^ * * The harbors on this coast do not an- 
swer the occasion there would be for them. On the bar of 
Brewer's Lagoon there is seven feet water ; often more on 
that of Black River. On those of Carataska and Warina 
Sound, nine feet; Great River and Pearl Cay, eight 
feet. ^ * * 

" The natives or Mosquito people are of two breeds, one 
the original Indians, and the other a mixture of those and 
negroes, called Sambos. The latter originated from the 
cargoes of two Dutch ships filled with negroes, which were 
cast away on the coast, where, after several battles, the ne- 
groes had wives and ground given to them ; since which they 



358 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

have greatly multiplied, and there is now no distinction be- 
tween them in their rights and customs." — ^P. 40. 

• " Though they are to all intents and purposes one people, 
yet they are not so properly a single state as three united, 
each of which is independent of the others. 

" I. Those who inhabit the southern extremity till Brag- 
man's, and are mostly the original Indians ; their head-man 
is called Governor. 

" II. Those who extend to about Little Black River, and 
are mostly Sambos ; their chief is called King. 

"in. Those westward, who are Indians and Sambos 
mixed ; their head-man is called General. 

, " The power of these three head-men is nearly equal, with 
a small difference in favor of the king, who is a little sup- 
ported by the whites for the sake of his name. But none 
of these chiefs have much more than a negative voice, and 
never do any thing without consulting a council of old men. 

uHt Hi Ht rpj^Q j^iy^g j^^g ]^ig commission or patent for 
being called so from the Governor of Jamaica. And all the 
other chief people have commissions (admirals and captains) 
from His Majesty's Superintendent; and, upon the strength 
of these, always assume much more authority than they could 
without. However, it is at best such that it may be more 
properly said, that their directions are followed, than their 
orders obeyed ; for even the young men are above serving 
the king, and will tell him that they are as free as he is, so 
that if he had not a few slaves of other Indians, he would be 
obliged to do all his own work." — P. 49. 

Hodgson next speaks of the ravages of small-pox and 
drunkenness among them, and concludes : 

" * * * Hence, the number of Mosquito people, in their 
present way of life, probably never exceeded ten or eleven 



NOTES AND EXTRACTS. 359 

thousand. * -* * From the best computation, they are not 
above seven thousand souls^"* 

George Chalmers, Secretary of Board of Trade. From MSS. Notes 
for use of Board. 

" The present number of the Mosquito Indians is un- 
known. It happened among them, probably, as among the 
North American Indians, that they decHned in numbers and 
degenerated in spirit in proportion nearly as the white peo- 
ple settled among them. The Mosquitos, like the Caribs 
of San Domingo, consist of three distinct races : the abo- 
rigines, the descendants of certain African negroes who were 
formerly wrecked on the coast, and a generation containing 
the blood of both. If the Spaniards earnestly desired to 
destroy them, they could not, I think, make a very vigor- 
ous resistance. They are chiefly defended by the rivers, 
mprasses, and woods of the country, and, perhaps, still more 
by the diseases incident to the climate." 

1818. 

From Eoherts^ Narrative of Voyages and Excursions on the East 
Coast of Central America. 

" In the Mosquito Shore, a plurality of mistresses is con- 
sidered no disgrace. It is no uncommon circumstance for a 
British subject to have one or more of these native women 
at different parts of the coast. They have acquired great 
influence through them. 

" I have never known a marriage celebrated among them ; 
these engagements are mere tacit agreements, sometimes 
broken by mutual consent. The children here and at Blue- 
fields are in general baptized by the captains of trading ves- 



360 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

sels from Jamaica, who, on their amiual visit to the coast, 
perform this ceremony, with any thing- but reverence, on all 
who have been born during their absence ; and many of 
them are indebted to these men for more than baptism. In 
proof of this, I could enumerate more than a dozen ac- 
knowledged children of two of these captains, who seem to 
have adopted, without scruple, the Indian idea of polygamy 
to its fullest extent. By this licentious and immoral con- 
duct, they have, however, so identified themselves with the 
natives, as to obtain a sort of monopoly of the sale of goods. 
They have also insinuated themselves into the good graces 
of some of the leading men, so that their arrival is hailed 
with joy by all classes, as the season of festivity, revelry, 
christening, and licentiousness !" 

1828. 

From " Report of the Commissioners of Legal Inquiry in the case of 
the Indians of Honduras^'''' ordered by the House of Commons "to he 
printed,'' July 10, 1828. 

" The Mosquito Indians are a barbarous and cruel people, 
in the lowest state of civiKzation, and under the most abject 
subjection to their kings or chiefs. They are hostile to all the 
other Indian nations, who are a mild, timid, and peaceful 
race, and who appear to live under patriarchal governments. 
* * * Differences so striking between nations of the same 
continent, and divided by no inaccessible barriers, have 
given rise to a conjecture, confirmed by concurrent tradition, 
that the Mosquitos had a distinct origin. This tradition 
states, that a ship loaded with negro men from Africa was. 
at a very remote period, wrecked on the Mosquito shore ; 
that these negroes seized upon the male inhabitants of the 
sea-coasts, massacred them, and then, by intermixture with 



NOTES AND EXTRACTS, 361 

tlie Indian women, altered the race and habits of the nation. 
This tradition is confirmed by the physical appearance of the 
Mosquitos, who indicate this mixture between the Indian 
and negro." 

1836. 
James Woods, for some time a resident on the Mosquito Shore. 

In the year 1836, one James Woods, a native of Ipswich, 
England, went out to Central America, under the auspices of 
a " Colonization Company." On his return, he published an 
account of his adventures, to serve as a warning against 
other companies. He resided awhile at Cape Gracias, in 
charge of a store of provisions, rum, etc. He says : 

" The rum was a dangerous thing in the store, for the In- 
dians will kill a man for a glass of rum ; and there were 
only five Europeans at the Cape. I had a demijohn of 
brandy for the Indian king, but he was gone up the river. 
He and his brother were taken from the Mosquito shore 
when young, and carried to the island of Jamaica, where 
they were taught to read and write the English language. 
After staying there a number of years, they were brought 
back to the shore. One was made king, the other a gen- 
eral, and although brought up in a civiHzed state, yet they 
returned to the wild and savage condition in which their 
people live, getting drunk, and giving themselves up to the 
most disgusting habits. No sooner had the king heard that 
I had a demijohn of brandy for him, than he set out to re- 
turn home. He went to the house of a Frenchman, named 
Bouchet, who came down to the beach and told me his 
majesty wanted to see me. I went to the house, where the 
king was lying on a bed, rather unwell. I made my com- 
pliments to him, and asked him how he did. He told me 

16 



362 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 

lie was very poorly, and wanted a gallon of brandy, which I 
accordingly got for him. He asked me to drink, and stay 
and dine with him, which I did. He told me that he loved 
me. I replied, ' You love the brandy better ;' but I turned 
it off with a laugh, or he would have been offended with me. 
He staid for two or three days, and then left for Bluefields. 
* * * These Indians far exceed all the Indians I have ever 
met with in lying, thieving, and every thing that is disgust- 
ing. They are given up to idolatry, and lead an indolent 
life." After giving details of their ignorance and barbarism, 
he adds : " They are also great drunkards, and are never 
easy except when they are drunk." And of the English 
settlers and traders, he says : " They are almost as bad as 
the natives, and live in almost as disgusting a manner." 



c. 

BRIEF VOCABULARY OF THE MOSQUITO LANaUAQE. 

In language, the Mosquitos differ wholly from the neigh- 
boring Indians, so that they are unable to communicate with 
them, except through interpreters. This fact, not less than 
their different character and habits of life, go to show that 
they are of a radically different stock. From their long in- 
tercourse with the Enghsh, they have adopted many English 
words, which are nevertheless pronounced in a manner which 
renders them nearly unintelligible. Their own language, 
however, is not deficient in euphony, although defective in 
grammatical powers. It has no article, definite or indefinite ; 
but the numeral adjective kumi (one), is used whenever 
the idea of number is prominent. The adjectives follow the 
noun, as do also the numerals. All nouns are understood to 
be masculine, unless quahfied by the word mairen (woman 
or female). The pronouns are twelve in number, but have 
neither gender nor number, both of which must be inferred 
from the connections in which they are used. The verbs 
have mood, tense, and person, but are wanting in number. 

English. Mosquito. 

Man, waikna. 

Woman, mairen. 

Father, aize. 



S64 



THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 



Motbeiv 


yapte. 


Boy, 


tukta. 


Girl, 


kiki. 


Husband, 


maia. 


Wife, 


maia-mairen. 


Head, 


lei. 


Hand, 


mita. 


Mouth, 


bila. 


Foot, 


men a. 


Blood, 


tala. 


House, 


watla. 


Thing,, 


dera. 


Dory, 


duerka-taira= 


Paddle, 


kuahi. 


Arrow, 


trisba. 


Harpoon, 


waisku, silak. 


Gun, 


rokbus. 


Sea, 


kabo. 


River, 


awala. 


Water, 


li. 


Food, 


plun. 


Cassava, 


yaura. 


Bread, 


tane. 


Maize, 


aya. 


Fish, 


inska. 


Iguana, 


kakamuk. 


Stone, 


walpa. 


Sky, 


kasbrika. 


Sun, 


lapta. 


Moon, 


kati. 


Star, 


silma. 


Wind, 


pasa. 



VOCABULARY. 



365 



Thunder, 


alwane. 


Earthquake, 


niknik. 


Island, 


daukwara. 


Chief; 


wita. 


Paint, 


orowa. 


Curassow, 


kusu. 


Dog, 


yul. 


Monkey, 


ruskika, waklin, 


Ox, 


bip, (beef?) 


Deer, 


sula. 


AUigator, 


tura. 


Manitus, 


palpa. 


Forest, 


untara. 


Savannah, 


twi. 


Cotton, 


. wamuk. 


Palm-tree, 


hatak. 


Mahogany, 


yulu. 


Cocoas, 


duswa. 


I, 


yung. 


Thou, 


man. 


He, 


wetin. 


This, 


baha. 


That, 


naha. 


Other, 


wala. 


To drink, 


diaia. 


To eat, 


piaia. 


To run. 


plapia. 


To paddle. 


kaubia. 


To laugh. 


kikia. 


To speak, 


aisaia. 


To hear. 


walaia. 


To sleep, 


yapaia. 



366 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 



1, 


kumi. 


2, 


wal. 


3, 


niupa. 


4 (2+2,) 


walwal. 


5, 


matasip. 


6, 


matlalkabe. 


V(6 + l), 


matlalkabe puri kumi. 


8 (6+2), 


matlalkabe puri wal. 


9(6 + 3), 


matlalkabe puri niupa. 


10(5X2), 


matawalsip. 


11 (5X2 + 1), 


matawalsip pura kumi. 


20 (20X1), 


iwanaiska kumi. 


21 (20X1 + 1), 


iwanaiska kumi pura kumi. 




j iwanaiska bimi pura mata- 
( walsip. 


30(20x1 + 10), 




/ iwanaiska kumi pura matawal- 


Si (20x1 + 10 + + 1), 


i sip pura matlalkabe pura 




( kumi. 


40 (20X2), 


iwanaiska wal. 


100 (20X5), 


iwanaiska matsip. 



THE ENDo 



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